Posts Tagged ‘republicans’
Georgia Indictment Watch
Posted on: August 14, 2023
Super quick post, because the indictment is imminent! In fact, it was prematurely posted but has been taken down.
Can’t wait to see the real thing!
Also, don’t forget to watch Hillary on Rachel tonight!!
Accountability
Posted on: May 13, 2023
- In: Biden | Kamala Harris | Politics | Trump
- 112 Comments
Happy Saturday, Shinners, and happy almost Mother’s Day! I hope you are having a great weekend.
When I was a child, my parents had a strict behavioral code they enforced on me and my brother. The chief enforcer was my mother. I became a very well-behaved child because I didn’t want to be punished, and I began to understand that what I did mattered. For example, I remember having a raging sweet tooth (still do, for chocolate!), and my parents limited me to one sweet a day. One day I had my sweet at lunch, and then we all went to my aunt and uncle’s place for dinner. I think I was around 5 or 6. I was so excited because they had chocolate pie for dessert! But my mom reminded me that I had already had my sweet. I remember crying – I really wanted that pie! Later that evening, I realized that I had made my decision and I had to live with the result.
My parents had taught me about accountability, and I never forgot the encounter, or the lesson.
Unfortunately, some people seem to have missed the memo that actions have consequences, and have to be taught accountability by a judge and jury.
The man I wish I never had to talk about again, Der Drumpfenfuhrer, is one of those people. This week, he was found guilty of sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll, and fined $5M in civil court for his actions.
For years, it seemed like there would be no holding Trump to account for any of the alleged misdeeds he had perpetrated against the women unlucky enough to find themselves in his path. And then E. Jean Carroll filed her suits. First for defamation—the rare case in which telling a lie is a legally actionable offense—and then for battery, under a new New York law that allowed survivors of sexual violence a one-year window to bring claims in old cases whose statutes of limitations had expired.
(snip)
Now, after the jury verdict, Carroll’s story is no longer just a story. It has been processed through the system our society has developed and agreed upon to adjudicate claims of wrongdoing, and it has been deemed credible. There is a new certainty to the language we can use about it, and, by extension, about Trump. He has been found liable for this sexual assault and for lying about it in a way that caused harm to Carroll. It is a permanent, official conclusion that will follow him for the rest of his life. It gives us fresh clarity on the depravity of those who defend and honor him.
Slate Magazine, Christina Cauterucci, 5/13/23
Was IQ45 chastened by this? Did he learn his lesson? As IF! He ranted about E. Jean Carroll on CNN, saying that he never met her, never knew her, didn’t touch her, and that she was crazy. This, of course, opens him up to yet another defamation trial, which Carroll is considering.
In another moment of accountability, last month, Drumpf was arrested and indicted on 34 felony charges relating to the hush money he paid to Stormy Daniels. This week, the judge in the case severely restricted his social media communications about the case, putting specific boundaries around information the prosecution shares with his team.
…The former president will still be able to complain about the charges, the judge in the case, and Bragg, just as he’s been doing. He’ll also be able to keep professing his innocence.
But the Republican and his legal defense team are poised to receive a lot of information from prosecutors, and even if Trump is tempted to misuse those materials, a judge has now made it clear that he can’t.
If the former president disapproves of these limits, he has no one to blame but himself.
MaddowBlog, Steve Benen, 5/9/23
While this isn’t yet a conviction, I do believe the social media restrictions will hurt the Mango Moron’s ability to spike the prosecution’s case. And really, he’s so obviously guilty, disinformation is his only strategy. Well, that and delaying the trial, which he won’t be able to do.
Accountability is being taught to other MAGA Nazis as well, men who think they have the right to do anything to anyone without consequences. Not so fast, guys!
- Steve Bannon’s fellow fraudsters in the We Build the Wall scam have been convicted and sentenced to years in prison. Bannon’s case is pending; the charges of second degree money laundering carry a maximum of 5-15 years.
- The number of January 6th convictions has reached over 1000. Leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oathkeepers have now been convicted of seditious conspiracy – the same charge the January 6th committee referred to the DOJ for Drumpf.
- White Marine Daniel Penny was charged with killing a black man, Jordan Neely. His trial is set for July 17th. While we haven’t confirmed yet that he is a MAGA, guess who’s defending him and raising money for his legal fees? The same Nazi group that raised money for Kyle Rittenhouse’s and January 6th insurrectionists’ defense.
- At the ballot box, MAGA continues to hurt the Republicans deeply. In 2020, they lost the Presidential election, the House and Senate; in 2022, they barely won the House (and that, only through fraud and gerrymandering in New York), and in 2024, Moscow Mitch believes they may not take the Senate despite only needing to flip two seats. Citing “candidate quality” as a problem, he blames QOP primary voters for nominating extreme candidates that can’t win a general election. Right, McTurtle – it’s the VOTERS that are a problem, not the QOP’s horrific policies that are out of touch with 75-85% of Americans! Dobbs, anyone?
It feels good to see some accountability for these rapists, traitors and murderers, doesn’t it? And, the three biggest cases against Drumpf are still to come: the January 6th and national security documents cases Jack Smith is developing, and the election fraud case Fani Willis, the Fulton County D.A., is building. In both sets of cases, charging decisions for the twice-impeached, convicted sexual predator and financial fraudster seem imminent.
Nice going, America. Let’s keep it up!
Marshall, Marshall, Marshall
Posted on: December 12, 2022
Tonight, we found out that 34 Republican members of Congress cannot spell the word “martial,” when referring to martial law. We also discovered that there was another teeny tiny issue with those Republicans.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows exchanged text messages with at least 34 Republican members of Congress as they plotted to overturn President Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.
[snip]
Meadows’ exchanges shed new light on the extent of congressional involvement in Trump’s efforts to spread baseless conspiracy theories about his defeat and his attempts to reverse it. The messages document the role members played in the campaign to subvert the election as it was conceived, built, and reached its violent climax on Jan. 6, 2021. The texts are rife with links to far-right websites, questionable legal theories, violent rhetoric, and advocacy for authoritarian power grabs.
One message identified as coming from Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) to Meadows on January 17, 2021, three days before Joe Biden was set to take office, is a raw distillation of the various themes in the congressional correspondence. In the text, despite a typo, Norman seemed to be proposing a dramatic last ditch plan: having Trump impose martial law during his final hours in office.
[snip]
TPM forwarded Norman a copy of the message calling for “Marshall Law!!” We did not receive any further response from the congressman.
Talking Points Memo, December 12, 2022
These messages, along with all the relevant evidence the January 6th Committee has obtained, are being turned over to the Department of Justice as early as next week – potentially on December 21st, the same day the Committee releases their report. We have seen that Special Counsel Jack Smith has been moving with great speed as he takes over the two DOJ investigations into Drumpf – his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, and his massive theft of government documents. I look forward with alacrity to what Smith will do with this latest revelation.
In the meantime, I am looking for a new social media site. Twitter has become untenable. The latest outrage? Elon calling for the prosecution of Dr. Fauci (for what? no one knows) and the odious Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was rightfully banned before the Muskrat’s takeover, responding favorably to his tweet. And tonight, I saw this headline: more content moderator types have been fired.
In less than two months, Musk has undone years of investments in trust and safety at Twitter — dismissing key parts of the workforce and bringing back accounts that previously had been suspended. As the body unravels, Musk is tightening his grip on decisions about the future of content moderation at Twitter, with less input from outside experts.
The move is just throwing away “years of institutional memory that we on the council have brought” to the company, said one council member, who asked to remain anonymous due to concern about harassment on the platform. “Getting external experts and advocates looking at your services makes you smarter.”
The Washington Post, December 12, 2022
My theory? This is all completely planned by Musk and his foreign/rightwing financiers to destroy Twitter. There’s no other interpretation other than Musk is clueless – and sorry, he’s just not. He’s making a series of moves that the most jejune business school graduate would not make – unless destruction were the goal. Unfortunately, too many liberal and progressive activists used the platform to effectively organize and tell the truth about the QOP. That clearly could not be tolerated.
So let me know where you’re going after you all inevitably ditch Twitter. I hear Post is good?
Finally, some upbeat news for our scientific Widdershins: Nuclear Fusion – it works!
For the first time ever, US scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain, a source familiar with the project confirmed to CNN.
The US Department of Energy is expected to officially announce the breakthrough Tuesday.
The result of the experiment would be a massive step in a decadeslong quest to unleash an infinite source of clean energy that could help end dependence on fossil fuels. Researchers for decades have attempted to recreate nuclear fusion – replicating the fusion that powers the sun.
US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will make an announcement Tuesday on a “major scientific breakthrough,” the department announced Sunday. The breakthrough was first reported by the Financial Times.
CNN, December 12, 2022
Can you imagine if we can actually scale and operationalize nuclear fusion?! What a total gamechanger. And of course, it’s all happening under President Biden.
I leave you with something delicious: Elon Musk being booed offstage at Dave Chappelle’s comedy show in San Francisco. No, we do not like you, Elon. And we’re not too thrilled with Dave Chappelle, either.
Serenity Now!
Posted on: November 20, 2022
- In: 2022 Elections | Congress | Current Events | democracy | Democratic Values | Democrats | elections | Open Thread
- 106 Comments
Hello Shinners,
What a week. We learned that the Democrats have lost the House, but only by a sliver. Nancy Pelosi is passing the baton, as are fellow octogenarians Steny Hoyer and James Clyburn, to a new generation of leaders. Hakeem Jeffries is the favorite to succeed her; if he wins election as Minority Leader, he will be the first Black American to lead a chamber of Congress in any capacity. Incredible that it it has taken this long, but sadly, not surprising.
As gifted as Hakeem Jeffries is, it will be near-impossible to equal Pelosi’s significance and prowess as Speaker. She was the first woman Speaker, and has been a beloved leader and powerful force for democracy during her long tenure. But I do think he is the right person at the right time for the job. He knows how to keep AOC and her fellow “Just Us” Democrats in line. And, women will stay in leadership with Katherine Clark (D-Mass) putting in her bid for the second-in-command. I didn’t know much about her, but she seems really promising.
Central to her approach as a member of leadership would continue to be her focus on women and families. In Massachusetts, before serving in the state legislature she was a lawyer for the state’s Office of Child Care Services.
As a member of the “sandwich generation,” taking care of young children at the same time as elderly parents, Clark said women’s struggles are always front and center for her. She is a member of the Women’s Caucus and has been instrumental in working with members to message around access to abortions. She worked to enable federal workers to have expanded fertility benefits and child care, and to provide federal support for child-care providers during the pandemic.
She also campaigned in 19 states and raised $12 million for Democratic colleagues during the mid-terms.
On the Senate side, Democrats sued the state of Georgia to allow early voting the Saturday before the runoff election between Walker and Warnock – and won. This is a YUGE victory, as lower turnout will benefit that brain-damaged werewolf-wannabe who should not be anywhere near the halls of power.
So much else has happened…today we heard about another mass shooting in Colorado Springs at the one nightclub where LGBTQ+ people were welcome in that area. Of course it was a wingnut who had previously threatened violence, and of course it was an AR-15. Such a terrible tragedy, and so preventable. I don’t even have words at this point.
Also this week, Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor to continue his two ongoing investigations of der Drumpfenfuhrer and his enablers in Congress. To me, this is a good sign because it means he wants leeway to after not just Drumpf, but Republican Congresscritters as well, and will need to have the appearance of neutrality; not to QOP, because they’ll scream no matter what, but to swing voters and persuadable Republicans. Experienced prosecutor Barb McQuade weighed in on this decision.
With Smith, DOJ has a chance for a do-over. By all accounts, Smith is a hard-working, apolitical prosecutor, who once led the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, which prosecutes corruption public officials. Most recently, he has been working as a war crimes prosecutor in the Hague. Dwight Holton, a former colleague at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, called Smith “a scrappy, no nonsense prosecutor who cuts through bullshit like a knife through hot butter.” All sounds like good preparation to investigate the former president.
And of course, the Mango Moron’s announcement that he was running again, and Elon Musk’s fake poll to let him back on Twitter, both landed like a lead balloon. Without Rupert Murdoch’s vast media empire unequivocally backing Donald, the rest of the media doesn’t seem as inclined to hang on his every word. They’ve been doing pretty well so far – how will things play out?
Now that Trump is running for president, how should the media cover him? That’s a major topic today, and will be for the next two years — or however long Trump is in the mix.
Writing for The Conversation, Thomas E. Patterson — Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, Harvard Kennedy School — writes that it’s up to the media to be responsible by, among other things, doing the following:
- Don’t play into his hands by letting him set the narrative.
- Call out his falsehoods, but don’t dwell on them.
- Don’t confuse access with newsworthiness. (This is a really smart point by Patterson.)
- Do notice when he trashes democracy.
- Avoid false equivalence.
- Provide context.
There’s more, and Patterson expands on his points with thoughtful examination. It’s good advice for journalists and those who follow this stuff closely. Give it a read.
And so far Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been a complete fail, with advertisers dropping by the droves and people setting up accounts on other platforms like Mastodon. As for me, my account is super limited and I don’t allow retweets or bot followers – I’m mostly there to read and support activists. Because of this, I’m sticking with it till either the investors pull Musk and restore the platform to normalcy, or the whole thing goes down.
With all of this happening in just one week, we need serenity now! This is a thread for us to post animals, music or whatever else gives us calm and happy feelings. Here’s mine – happy Sunday, all.
There are No Good Republicans
Posted on: February 5, 2022
- In: 2020 Election | Biden | Breaking News | Current Events | Donald Trump | Government | Insurrection | Open Thread | Republicans | Romney
- 115 Comments
Good morning Widdershins! This week we saw another torrent of bad news for Drumpf and his partners in crime. As all the birds starting singing to the January 6th committee and news came out about secret meetings in the Oval Office, a planned and coordinated fake electors plot (with a project plan, deliverables and milestones!) and the scheme to seize voting machines in 2020, the RNC doubled down on its gaslighting by censuring the only Republicans on the January 6th Committee, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and officially denoting those who participated in the attempted coup against our government as engaging in “legitimate political discourse.” Also, War is Peace, right Ronna?
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Friday’s resolution targeted the Jan. 6 committee probe, which has subpoenaed a range of politicians and Trump White House aides as it tries to piece together their role in events leading to the assault.
“Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed a line. They chose to join Nancy Pelosi in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol,” she said. She said she “condemned violence on both sides of the aisle.”
The censure was overwhelmingly passed.
Let’s take a look at what she’s saying here. Her argument is that everyone who didn’t go to the Capitol and riot was just expressing an opinion. So everyone trying to overturn our government through non-violent means should be ignored and allowed to continue, according to her. This would include Mike Pence’s and Drumpf’s staff, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Mike Flynn and his brother, Steve Bannon, Sidney Powell…the list goes on and on.
That is a horrifying statement, but if you think about it, why wouldn’t she make it? The Republicans know they are no longer a political Party that can win elections legitimately. They haven’t won the Presidency legitimately since George Bush I, and they’ve used voter suppression tactics, election fraud, gerrymandering, conspiring with foreign enemies, and the Electoral College to gain control of state legislatures and steal the Presidency.
They have been like this since 1994, and every single elected Republican knows it.
Newt Gingrich Republicanism was bad enough, but what Newt and it has evolved into since 2015 is even worse: a Party promoting white supremacy, and promising violence and prison to everyone who opposes them. They are Nazis: actively for fascism and against democracy.
There is nothing “legitimate” about that.
So when I see people like Mike Pence coming out and saying that the Mango Moron is wrong and Pence couldn’t have overturned the election; Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger sitting on the January 6th Committee; and Mitt Romney (whose niece is Ronna McDaniel) saying the RNC was wrong to censure Cheney and Kinzinger, I don’t applaud or give them any credit. Cheney and Kinzinger are doing the bare minimum their oaths to the Constitution require. Mike Pence stood by Drumpf for 4 years as he rampaged through the federal government, destroying everything he touched. Mitt Romney voted with Drumpf while he was President, and in the age of Biden, he has voted against voting rights legislation repeatedly.
They still call themselves Republicans. They know they are part of a Nazi Party. They are scum. And I won’t be tricked into congratulating them or thinking there’s some redeemable part of the Party, just because I deeply wish there were two (or more!) legitimate choices to vote for in this country. There aren’t. There are Nazis, and then there are Democrats. That’s the choice.
There are no good Nazis, and there are no good Republicans.
Open thread as always…
The Widdershins 
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