The Wisdom of Pooh

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This Bitch: RFK Jr.

Oh sure, he’s got name recognition, but other than that he’s just one conspiracy theory away from a tinfoil hat. This week Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held a press event at an Upper East Side restaurant and served up some wild COVID-19 conspiracy theories. He claims that the virus was a genetically engineered bioweapon “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people: “COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately. COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese. We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact.” Kennedy’s remark are literally taken from anti-Semitic literature that blames the Jews for the emergence and spread of COVID. In an age where anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise, the spread of this nonsense bull shit is dangerous and stupid, but he doesn’t just say that; he goes on to say the Chinese did this and are planning even more: “We do know that the Chinese are spending hundreds of millions of dollars developing ethnic bioweapons and we are developing ethnic bioweapons. They’re collecting Russian DNA. They’re collecting Chinese DNA so we can target people by race.” To be fair, there is a growing consensus among US intelligence agencies that COVID-19 was man-made and escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China but there is no evidence it was designed to spare certain religious groups or ethnicities, and Kennedy offered no studies to support his claims. Cuz it’s all bull shit; Kennedy has also claimed that poppers cause AIDS and that tap water is turning children transgender. UPDATE: Kennedy is incensed that this story got out and claims it’s entirely false: “The [Post] story is mistaken. I have never, ever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews. I accurately pointed out—during an off-the-record conversation—that the U.S. and other governments are developing ethnically targeted bioweapons and that a 2021 study of the COVID-19 virus shows that COVID-19 appears to disproportionately affect certain races.” Sounds like he’s admitting that he said it, while trying to deny he said it. But what he’s mostly irate about is that he was quoted in an off the record conversation. What I am most irate about is that there is a videotape of him saying exactly what he says he didn't say. Well, I say that’s a good thing, because it once again points out the lunacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Poppers cause AIDS, water makes children trans, and COVID was designed to kill only certain people. Seriously, you don’t even hear the most wack-a-doodle Republicans try to sell these theories and they never met a conspiracy they didn’t try to peddle. So, please vote Blue, but not this crackpot shade of Blue.

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And Ronnie D's is shaking up his campaign staffing, possibly because of the video in which one of his staffers admitted to being stoned. Or, it could also be that his vision of Woke Hell is simply not catching fire. Ronnie suffers from the same problem almost every other Republican politician suffers from, the inability to understand that his decisions run against the grain of most Americans. The Orange Anus used the word Woke and Ronnie, believing it to be the true yellow brick road to the presidency instantly became the anti-woke overachiever. Because of this he damns constructive criticism; that would mean he's wrong. He doesn't know that surrounding yourself only with people who think like you will spoil you into believing you are always correct. Believe me, Ronnie has spoiled himself into believing he is the answer to every Cracker Jack Republicans Conservative wet dream.

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Cruz Claims Barbie Movie Is “Chinese Propaganda”

July 17, 2023 Idiocracy, Republicans

“There’s a scene in ‘Barbie,’ where there is this map of the world, and it’s drawn like with crayon. I mean, it’s really a very simple cartoon. And so they have this blockish thing that is called ‘Asia.’ And then they’ve drawn what are called the nine-dashes. This is Chinese communist propaganda in which the Chinese are asserting sovereignty over the entirety of the South China Sea. And they don’t have any right to it under international law, but they are trying to take it away from their neighbors there.” – Ted Cruz, speaking to the Heritage Foundation.

The Insider reports:

The map Cruz referred to was featured in a screenshot from Barbie that included Margot Robbie and went viral in July, leading to Vietnam banning the movie.
The image in question shows a crude map of the world, created with colorful ink or crayon. Barbie stands in front of it and an outline of land can be seen, labeled “Asia.” There are eight dashes coming out of “Asia” drawn in the sea.
“The map in Barbie Land is a whimsical, child-like crayon drawing,” Warner Bros. said. “The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the real world. It was not intended to make any type of statement.”

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And, this should be of no surprise to anyone who has been paying any attention to the Republican Party. Their problem is that they didn't care how crazy the base was or how much Trump whipped them into a frenzy as long as they voted Republican, and now they have a problem. Now indictments are going to be falling like rain, and not just on the Orange Anus, and they have no alternative. Prepare yourselves, the Republicans are only going to grow more insanely evil.
A bit on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.... Most are not aware, but his first wife committed suicide after finding his handwritten diary detailing extra-marital affairs with 34 other women. This should give you an idea of what his mental state was back then and what it still is today. Even his own family bit him back about his claim that Covid was a Bioweapon designed by the Chinese to kill whites and blacks while not effecting the Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews

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And, of course, the American people were served a scrumptious appetizer yesterday in the form of a Target letter received by the dishonorable Orange Anus. An amusing aside: during breakfast I told my brother I thought Christie was going to get the nomination and he found that funny, and then an hour later the Moral Degenerate throws out this savory bit in order wring more sympathy from his cult [[and don't forget the buckos they'll send him). Don't forget that Christie has qualified for the first debate and all Trump is doing is handing him plates filled with chewy ammunition. At this point, I suspect there might not be a Republican debate. Trump will refuse to be yelled at on national TV.


Then yesterday afternoon my cup runneth over with joy when up in Michigan 16 indictments were handed out to those trying to send false electors to Washington, liars and losers ready certify their liar and chief Donald Trump. Keep in mind, these are still just the appetizers.

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Buckle up, fake electors....

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House Republicans have proposed several amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act in order to limit the Pentagon’s use of electric vehicles because it's a Biden thing, going green and all. And while there is some debate over the merits of EVs, they emit less noise and heat, so they’re harder for enemies to detect. I imagine a world where one day all cars are electric … well, except one: The GOP Clown Car will always be a stench emitting gas bag.

There’s growing crisis in Ron DeSantis’ campaign … between reports the campaign is burning through cash—Casey DeSantis’ opera glove budget must be extensive—and that staff is leaving or being fired. So what does a desperate fool do when he needs some attention? He goes to the “woke” media for a sit-down. Yes, the same Ron DeSantis who called corporate media “very, very untrustworthy” sat down with Jake Tapper on CNN this week, The desperation stinks as bad as Ronnie’s feet did when he took off those white go-go boots.

Down in Texas, officers working for Governor Greg Abbott’s border security initiative have been told not to give water to asylum seekers even in extreme heat and to push small children and nursing babies back into the Rio Grande, which has been strung with razor wire and a wall of buoys. They aren’t trying to stop immigrants from crossing the border, they’re trying to kill them. I have joked about it before, but Abbott really needs to have his wheelchair pushed into the Rio Grande.

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Word has it that the relationship between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, AKA Large Marge and The Bobo, has gotten so bad that one of their colleagues, Rep. Tim Burchett, thinks “a fistfight could break out at any moment.” Well, whoever wins that fight should be forced to take on the winner of the Elon Musk-Mark Zuckerberg Big Dick Battle … and fight to the death.

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And, of course, yesterday Jimmy Jordan threw a party in the House of Representatives and, as expected, all the Republicans showed up as clowns. There were whistleblowers who weren't exactly tooting their horns. Their facts turned out to biased conjecture. These losers are so desperate to implicate the Bidens in some sort of horrible crime family scheme and the Democrats are quickly pointing out that a Trump appointed Attorney General, as well as a Trump appointed lawyer found no chargeable offenses against either Hunter or Joe Biden. What they're really trying to do is draw media attention away from the impending indictments of Trump. And they're getting desperate. How desperate? Yesterday Marjorie Taylor [[I'm dumber than shit) Green showed Hunter's dick pics on the House floor, and then later when on to email them out to her constituents. The GOP is so lost.

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Trump Appointee Convicted On Seven Rioting Felonies

July 20, 2023 Crime, Trump cultists

NBC News reports:

Donald Trump political appointee who attempted to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 was convicted of seven felonies on Thursday, the same day that a grand jury deciding whether to indict the former president for his efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power was hearing testimony from former White House aide William Russell.
Federico Klein, who worked in the State Department during the Trump administration, was convicted by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, also a Trump appointee, following a bench trial that unfolded last week.
Klein was represented by Stanley Woodward, an attorney for several former Trump officials, including Russell, who was testifying elsewhere in the federal courthouse. Klein, who was 42 at the time of his arrest, faced charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; obstruction of an official proceeding; civil disorder; as well as misdemeanor offenses.

Read the full article.

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Thursday Was a Total Crackpot Day on Capitol Hill

JULY 21, 2023
The high point from me was Rep. Elise Stefanik [[R-Horcrux) arguing that, if only the country had known about Hunter’s Laptop, the election would have gone a different way.
From Esquire, by Charles P. Pierce:
Thursday was total crackpot day on Capitol Hill, and the crew here at the shebeen had two CSPAN screens going at once. The House Subcommittee on Weaponization hosted a former Breitbart editor, an Assistant Attorney General from Louisiana, poor Maya Wiley who was there to be pecked at by pipsqueaks, and the real star of the proceedings, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, who spent the whole day being massaged by the likes of Rep. Chip Roy, and denying [[in medium-high dudgeon) things that he was recorded on video saying. All you really need to know is that subcommittee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan [[R-Van Heusen) started things off with a barefaced non-fact.

But when you look at Mr Kennedy’s tweet, there was nothing in there that was factually inaccurate. Hank Aaron was a real person. A great American who passed away after he got the vaccine. Just pointing out facts. And yet the White House on the third day was trying to censor Mr Kennedy. I find that interesting.

What Jordan was doing was re-floating the canard that Aaron died from the vaccine, which was a popular bit of conservative bullshit at the time of the baseball immortal’s death back in January. Because he is as soft as church music on the subject, RFK, Jr. at the time tweeted,

#HankAaron‘s tragic death is part of a wave of suspicious deaths among elderly closely following administration of #COVID #vaccines. He received the #Moderna vaccine on Jan. 5 to inspire other Black Americans to get the vaccine.

Also, the “wave of suspicious deaths” was pretty much hooey, as well. My guess is that a lot more people died of COVID because they listened to the likes of RFK, Jr. than died “suspiciously” of the vaccine. But, as Jim Jordan said, Kennedy was just pointing out facts.
As you can predict, this hearing was another recapitulation of how evil social media companies “censored” information from dedicated citizens like Breitbart editors and assistant attorneys general from Louisiana. The high point from me was Rep. Elise Stefanik [[R-Horcrux) arguing that, if only the country had known about Hunter’s Laptop, the election would have gone a different way. Pressed by Rep. Daniel Goldman for proof, Stefanik produced a poll from tippInsights— the polling shop associated with Investors Business Daily— that purports to reveal that, had they known about Hunter’s Laptop, 61 percent of Democratic voters would have changed their vote. I find this result to be as questionable as I would a poll that showed that 85 percent of Americans preferred cholera to corn flakes.
At least, nobody showed dick pics in a House hearing on Thursday, for which we can all thank our personal Saviors.
More interesting was the hearing over on the Senate side, where the Judiciary Committee passed a measure that designed a code of ethics and transparency for Supreme Court justices. [[Right now, the Nine Wise Souls are the only members of the federal bunch who don’t have a code of ethics,) Two of the bill’s oilier opponents were Senators John Cornyn and Mike Lee, the conztitooshunal skolar from Utah. Both of them tried to explain how a code of ethics for the Supreme Court is an attack on the Court’s independence. Cornyn expressed deep concern over how “this campaign of harassment and intimidation” has affected the trust that Americans have in the Court. [[Is a code of ethics harassment or intimidation? The world wonders.) Evidently, Cornyn doesn’t recall the giddy days of 2005 when congressional Republicans were meddling in the death and dying of Terri Schiavo, and threatening judges with reprisals if they didn’t rule the right way. Luckily, we here at the shebeen remember Cornyn’s saying, excusing the dangerous rhetoric of Rep. Tom DeLay,

It causes a lot of people, including me, great distress to see judges use the authority that they have been given to make raw political or ideological decisions. And no one, including those judges, including the judges on the United States Supreme Court, should be surprised if one of us stands up and objects. I believe this increasing politicalization of the judicial decision-making process at the highest levels of our judiciary have bred a lack of respect for some of the people that wear the robe. And that is a national tragedy.

But nothing Cornyn said can compare to Mike Lee’s imitation of a grease trap in a diner. Attempting to Both Sides the largesse of Harlan Crow, Lee launched a meretricious attack on the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

There is one exception. One allegation which has come to light fairly recently with regard to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I disagree with many of Justice Ginsburg’s rulings, there is someone for whom I’ve long had deep respect. There are some very serious allegations that have recently come to light I’ve recently become aware of. The fact that she received a 1 million dollar reward that went unreported. I am still reserving assessment as to exactly what to make of that. But I would say, we might have some very significant ramifications if she were still serving on the court. If you are still. Alive that might lead to something.

In 2019, Justice Ginsberg did indeed receive the $1 million Berggruen Prize. This award was publicized almost everywhere, including The New York Times. She gave the money away to charity, and reported it. Has Sam Alito given back that really big fish he caught on the junket with his sugar daddies? Did he donate it to a food bank? Has Clarence Thomas paid Harlan Crow back for, well, everything? Mike Lee is an odious fellow. And citing Antonin Scalia, who literally died on one of these rich-fool junkets, in defense of the status quo is such a tasty irony that I’m going back for seconds.

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And for those who didn't know it, Barbie is smashing box office records, with Oppenheimer distantly on her heels. Conservatives are flipping out as their carefully curated shrieks of Wokeness are falling on deaf ears all across the country. While the director, Greta Gerwig, did not openly eviscerate the Cracker Jack Crazy Conservatives, she did jib and jab at them enough for Benny Shapiro to buy Barbie and Ken dolls and set them ablaze. While I'm sure his followers nearly wet themselves with glee, the rest of America looked at his prank and realized he's as big of a dick as Ronnie DeSantis.


Speaking of Ronnie, he's doubling down on his "slaves benefitted from being slaves" rhetoric. He is not moving to the far right, he's just becoming more and more extreme about his racism. You look at his campaign, and at what he's doing to Florida, and you think he can't get any worse and then his administration pulls something like this. I can't even imagine what world he's living in.

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Florida GOP & Democrats: Ignorance Versus Education

Down in Florida where you can’t say Gay, or make certain healthcare decisions for yourself or your own child, Florida Republicans and the state Board of Education … hold for laughter, Florida and education … have approved a new set of standards for teaching Black history and it goes like this: Florida’s public schools will now teach students that some Black people benefited from slavery because “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” Let’s stop there … slaves benefited from slavery because they learned to tend crops and blacksmith and sew and serve white people. Slaves, who were free in their own countries until they were kidnapped, chained in the bowels of ships, and brought thousands of miles away to America where they were bought and sold; where they were beaten and raped—often to produce slave children who would grow up to “benefit” from assaults and rapes; where they were sold as property, away from their own families. Ask a white person if that sounds like a benefit. The Board of Education points to “blacksmiths like Ned Cobb, Henry Blair, Lewis Latimer and John Henry; shoemakers like James Forten, Paul Cuffe and Betty Washington Lewis; fishing and shipping industry workers like Jupiter Hammon, John Chavis, William Whipper and Crispus Attucks; tailors like Elizabeth Keckley, James Thomas and Marietta Carter; and teachers like Betsey Stockton and Booker T. Washington” who learned something while enslaved, beaten, raped, bought, sold and tortured. Yes, some slaves took their talents once they were freed and made lives for themselves, but that does not diminish all the suffering endured while enslaved … unless you live in Florida where it’s more, “Look, sure she was raped, but she also learned to cook and sew” and “Yeah, he was whipped so badly his skin split and his blood ran into the dirt, but he learned to plant crops, too.” And just as disgusting, in other language that has drawn fire from educators and education advocates, these new education standards will also teach that Black people were also perpetrators of violence during race massacres. As in the Tulsa Race Massacre—which I have posted about HERE and HERE—which destroyed an area of Tulsa called Blac Wall Street, filled with Black-owned businesses and schools and churches and homes; as in 1906 Atlanta Race Riot, 1919 Washington, D.C. Race Riot, 1920 Ocoee Massacre, and the 1923 Rosewood Massacre. Children will be taught that Black people were also the perpetrators of these race riots. Fuck Florida, fuck the GOP, fuck Ron DeSantis, and fuck their Board of Education for whitewashing history for future generations. On the other hand … Nikki Fried, the Chair of the Florida Democratic Party and state Democrat legislators will be in Tallahassee Saturday as part of a “banned bookmobile” gambit. Fried will be joined by Representatives Angie Nixon and Michele Rayner-Goolsby, activist Thomas Kennedy, and Jen Cousins, founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, as part of MoveOn Political Action’s first Banned Bookmobile multistate tour. MoveOn Political Action Executive Director Rahna Epting: “DeSantis and MAGA Republicans’ vision for our country is to censor all of our diverse backgrounds and to punish those who live, love and think differently than they do. We won’t surrender to their extremism, and our Banned Bookmobile tour will give access to books that celebrate the immense diversity of perspectives that are part of the human experience and essential to our development as a society.” It seems that while the Florida GOP is trying to rewrite history to make themselves and certain white people feel better about America’s racist past, the Democrats and trying to educate the public about what has happened, and what is happening, and what will happen, if we don’t stand up against authoritarian politics like DeSantis and the clearly racist MAGAts. Speak up. Stand up.

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Ron DeSantis's presidential campaign is shaping up to be a #DeSaster

This couldn't be happening to a more deserving son-of-a-bit . . . I mean person.
From The Orlando Sentinel [[by way of Yahoo News):

Gov. Ron DeSantis had a difficult weekend on the culture war front, re-doubling his defense of the state’s controversial new Black history standards as a new report revealed a now-infamous anti-LGBTQ ad was actually made within the campaign itself. A pro-DeSantis account also tweeted a video that included alleged imagery of a Nazi symbol. Though reports that it had been retweeted by a DeSantis campaign staffer before it was deleted were unconfirmed, Florida Democrats pounced. DeSantis’ continuing cultural battles come amid reports that his presidential bid is planning a “reboot” following worsening poll numbers and a major shedding of cash.
. . . “What’s happened is what might be expected, and I did expect,” said Mac Stipanovich, a former Tallahassee Republican consultant who has been a frequent critic of DeSantis. “The campaign is proving to be a clown car. Malevolent clowns, but clowns just the same.”

And this is just a small portion of a wonderful article chock full of DeSantis campaign missteps, blatant lies, and pitiful evasions, all of which gives us a front row seat of what happens when an empty suit decides to run for president without any integrity or substance to back up his verbal bravado. The DeSantis campaign is so bad, one has to wonder if it is a victim of deliberate internal sabotage.
DeSantis is also facing negative press in other areas which are not included in the article, such as his threat to sue Bud Light over its partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney and a leaked transcript from a canceled Showtime documentary about his time as a junior Navy officer at the Guantánamo ​prison camp. The transcript alleges that he was present at force feedings and tortures of prisoners.

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I feel I need to write about Jason Aldean - but I don't wanna.

He's an artist I've heard of, but never heard.


There are like 53 people across from Mandalay Bay who are now lucky enough they don't have to hear him.


Yes - a mass shooting joke that is too soon. Or is it? But it was at his concert, so maybe the guy just missed his target and hit 53 people who weren't on stage at the time.


Yes, CMT pulled [[not banned) song about, basically threatening anyone in a small town who doesn't act like they're from a small town. Country motherfuckers are up in arms over CMT's actions.


Now think back to 2003, when the Chicks said they were embarrassed the president was from Texas. That's it. Not about the subtle art of saying "lynching" without saying "lynching" like Aldean does. CMT did ban the Chicks. Still do, btw


So, these country hayseeds don't get it - the irony, the hypocrisy, the stupidity or general understanding of the two instances. They certainly don't get "you can't ban our music; but we will ban books'.


Maybe they do get it - and just don't care that they look stupid as fuck.


It's another exhausting link in the chain of the anchor that is dragging us all down to the depths of the Titan sub. I just want them all to implode.

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Ronnie DeSantis is doubling down on his racist opinion that slaves benefitted from the enslavement because... well, Meatball Ron believes that backing down would make him look weak. While this might play well with the MAGA cult, for many in America it's a really bad failure. I don't know who told him alienating whole voting blocs was a good idea, but, well as far as Democrats are concerned, it's a good way to keep Republicans from voting for him. Fox News, in their attempt to aid and abet him, some ass named Greg Gutfield actually said that some Jews benefitted from the Holocaust.


And, as the trucks continue to gather outside the DC Courthouse, the glow of satisfaction is beginning to well up from my heart like a many colored aura filling the air with delight. We would have missed all of Trump's suffering if he'd been indicted earlier just to satisfy those impatient few who needed to see him in cuffs sooner. His inane rantings on Truth Social are almost as good as manna in the wilderness as each day we learn one more person has flipped. Yes, the floodgates have opened. All of those rats he surrounded himself with are desperately trying to avoid being skinned alive. If I were very religious, I say Judgement is coming for the Republican Party.

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Kevin Maxen, an associate strength coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars, is the first male coach in a major U.S.-based professional league to come out as gay: "I don't want to feel like I have to think about it anymore. I don't want to feel like I have to lie about who I am seeing, or why I am living with someone else. I want to be vocal in support of people living how they want to live, but I also want to just live and not feel fear about how people will react. You have other coaches who have significant others, and they're talking about their significant others, and I felt guilty that I couldn't do the same thing, that I was letting myself down." Not any longer, Kevin. Welcome Out and please accept as our gift from HOMO HQ the Official Coming Out Toaster Oven™ and your own copy of The Gay Agenda. Welcome out.

An all-male panel of anti-abortion religious leaders from around the country have met at an event hosted by Operation Save America—an anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ and anti-Muslim group—that wants Americans to follow “God’s law” and their interpretation of the Christian gospel. So, they decided that a woman who chooses abortion should be put to death. They say they’re pro-life but don’t see the hypocrisy.

Elon Musk’s has rebranded Twitter as X because he thinks it’ll turn the site profitable again, when the reason it loses money is not because of the name but because of the asshat owner. X marks the spot where Twitter died.

A man walks into a bar and there, perched atop the bar, is an antique oil lamp. And he asks the bartender: “What’s this?” “I dunno. Maybe the last guy left it?” The man looks at the lamp, notices a couples of spots on it, and begins rubbing it with his shirt sleeve to clean it when … Poof! A cloud of smoke and a genie appears. And like all genies he offers the man Three Wishes. The man thinks for a moment and then says: “Turn Texas Governor Greg Abbott into a pregnant woman living in a small house with no power and no air conditioning and no working fridge due to our power grid failing on a 104-degree day.” The genie smiles and says: “This one’s on me.” My kinda genie.

Remember Senator Tommy Tuberville saying White Nationalists aren’t racists? Well, because he’s an ignorant twazcock, people began digging into his past and found that the stories Tommy tells about his father’s military service aren’t exactly truthful. Tuberville claims that his daddy, Charles Tuberville Jr., lied about his age to join the army, that he was a tank commander, that he earned five Bronze Stars, and that he participated in the D-Day landing. But, an examination of army histories, newspaper reports and other materials show that Big Daddy Tuberville joined the army at 18, never got any Bronze Stars, and was never a tank commander but he might have been there on D-Day. Let’s see, Republican who thinks White Nationalists aren’t racists is also a liar. Yeah, business as usual.

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no, Jews didn’t survive the Holocaust by being “useful.” holy shit, what the fuck is wrong with you people

JULY 26, 2023
From everybody is entitled to my own opinion, by Jeff Tiedrich:
there is not one abysmal act of inhumanity that Republicans can’t find some way to snidely shrug it off as just one of those things that happens
here we go again.
two days ago, I wrote about Florida’s despicable decision to teach its children about the “positive aspects” of slavery.
there was nothing funny to say about this moral travesty, but I did allow myself one slight ha-ha at the end. I wrote:

in Germany, schoolchildren are taught about the Holocaust. it’s mandatory. and they don’t sugar-coat it with stupid fairy tales. they don’t try to pretend that Jews learned useful skills like how to hide in an attic.

it’s a ludicrous notion, but guess fucking what: yesterday, on the Fox News program The Five, Greg Gutfeld went there, saying that Jews survived extermination camps by being “useful.”
Greg, sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up.
nobody survived an extermination camp by being useful.

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do you know who started this bullshit lie?
the Nazis.
this is the front gate of the Auschwitz extermination camp. the sign above the gate reads “Arbeit Macht Frei.” that’s German for “work will make you free.”
it’s a lie. not one person imprisoned at Auschwitz — or any Nazi extermination camp — worked their way to freedom.
can we pause here for a little bit of a history lesson?
it’s 1944 in Europe and you’ve been rounded up by the authorities and crowded onto a cattle car and sent by rail to a camp.
let’s say you survive the journey.
you arrive, you’re taken off the train and everybody stands in a line for a fun little process called sorting.
a Nazi doctor looks you over. if you’re too old, too young, too frail, too fat — or maybe the doctor just doesn’t like the look on your face — you’re immediately sent off to be murdered.
millions of people died this way. millions. off the train, one look, dead.
if you’re “lucky” enough to pass, you’re assigned to do slave [[there’s that word again) labor.
that’s it. there’s no intake process, no interview, nobody asking if you have any useful skills. just one look and you’re either dead or enslaved.
and the only way anyone survived a camp [[except for the tiny handful who managed to escape) was by not being murdered, or worked to death, or starved to death — and to somehow miraculously still be clinging onto life when your camp was liberated at the end of the war.
this is what Greg Gutfeld calls “being useful.”
holy shit.

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the Auschwitz Memorial and the White House issued statements condemning Gutfeld’s remark. neither Fox News nor Gutfeld have responded.
this is your Republican Party, ladies and gentlemen. there is not one abysmal act of inhumanity that they can’t find some way to justify, some way to snidely shrug it off as just one of those things that happens.
children working in factories, ten-year-olds forced to give birth, migrants caught in razor wire booby traps, enslavement, extermination. it’s not Greg Gutfeld’s fault if you can’t escape these fates. next time, try being more useful.
once again, what the fuck.

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In case you hadn't heard, Hunter Biden's plea deal fell apart yesterday. For a while the Republicans were whooping with glee, that was until Mitch McConnel had TIA in public. All of a sudden, Hunter Biden was old news. I've watched the clip a few times of him freezing up mid-sentence and it's really weird. I'd truly feel sorry for the man, but I suspect this is all part of his Karma. I was pleased to see that Biden called him to see if he was alright; that's todays Republicans would never do. In fact, it's being pointed out how when Biden tripped over a sandbag he took the brunt of substantial mockery from Republicans, while with McConnell Democrats are offering concern and consideration and compassion.


Will today be indictment day?

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Hozier, Irish singer-songwriter and longtime LGBTQ+ ally, taking a stand for the transgender community: “If you believe in a free and open society, part of that is respecting and supporting your fellow citizens’ rights to be who they are. For me, it’s a question of decency and showing up. It’s a very simple question of human decency when you treat someone with respect, you treat them with respect whether that’s their pronoun, their name—it’s so simple. It really is. These things aren’t that complicated, you know? I think it’s grimly predictable at a time we’re in a cost-of-living crisis, this massive crisis of inequality, a rental crisis, housing crisis,” he said. “At a time where there are already huge, huge questions to be asked about how our society is functioning and what we want out of an economy that really isn’t working for everyday folks … there are media companies who love picking soft targets, and rather than having conversations about the actual, serious, difficult questions of our time and our collective predicament, will just take less than one percent of the population and decide the most pressing thing is to talk about them in an existential way. I don’t know who might need to hear this today but you are loved, you are seen and you deserve to be happy and respected for who you are and the God given life you live.” This isn’t the first time Hozier has spoken out in support of the LGBTQ+ community; his Grammy-nominated 2013 debut single “Take Me to Church” blasted religious dogma and shame around sexuality. And after Tennessee became the first state to ban drag performances, Hozier performed with Sheryl Crow, Maren Morris, and others at the “Love Rising” concert benefiting Tennessee Equality Project, Inclusion Tennessee, and Out Memphis. Bravo. But on the flip side …

Jason Aldean, doubling down on his faux outrage and fake patriotism: “So, all you weirdos out there who escaped your small town? I see you. I know what you went through. And I hope you have found a place where you feel at home and comfortable enough to be yourself. You were never a weirdo. There was never anything wrong with you. You are not depraved. Sometimes we’re just born where we don’t belong. And someone creating an idyllic and violent fantasy of “community” of the place you had to leave behind doesn’t change that one bit.” Sometimes we’re born where we don’t belong? Fuck all the way off you asshat. In America anyone and everyone should belong where they choose to live and if you think your stance makes you patriotic you need to get a goddamned dictionary. Or just shut the fuck up.

Chris Christie, on Ron DeSantis and Florida’s new Slavery Wasn’t So Bad education plan: “First of all, ‘I didn’t do it and I’m not involved in it’ are not the words of leadership. You know, look, Governor DeSantis started this fire with the bill that he signed, and now he doesn’t want to take responsibility for whatever is done in the aftermath of it. And from listening and watching his comments, he’s obviously uncomfortable. The fact is that [he] starts these things for political advantage. I’m talking about governors micromanaging curriculum in schools. And the fact is that, you know, if this was such a big issue for Governor DeSantis, he had four years to do this. He only started to focus on this when he decided he wanted to run for president and tried to get to the right of [Thing 45]. So I think people see this as politically manipulative. We’re dividing our country into smaller and smaller and smaller pieces, and politicians are pitting them against each other to create conflict.” What the hell is happening in the world where I agree with Chris Christie? But he’s right, DeSantis signed the bill but now acts like he had nothing to do with it, and that’s a chickenshit move. Which is what he is, and what he would be if he ever gets into the White House.

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Jesse Watters, taking over for Tucker Carlson as the most prolific POS on FOX, on Florida’s Slavery Wasn’t So Bad Laws: “The curriculum includes how Black slaves were able to use their experience in some cases to make their brutally hard lives better. The course examines the various duties and trades performed by slaves like agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation. ‘Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.’ That’s the section everyone’s freaking out about. No one is arguing slaves benefited from slavery. No one is saying that. It’s not true. They’re teaching how Black people developed skills during slavery in some instances that could be applied for their own personal benefit. We can’t have an honest conversation with the likes of Kamala Harris or the likes of MSNBC. They don’t want an honest conversation. Why is Kamala Harris so dishonest about how Black history is taught? Is she ignorant and hasn’t read the curriculum? Is she just being handed talking points by staff? Or does she not want African-American history taught this way? Does she not want students to learn how resilient and capable Black Americans were during slavery and afterwards? What is Kamala Harris hiding?” Let’s try this, Jesse. You live the life of a slave in the 1860s, okay? We’ll start with you being chased by strangers and then captured and thrown onto a ship, chained in the bowels where you will spend months crossing an ocean lying in yours, and your fellow slaves,’ excrement; you will hardly be fed, and in fact many of you will die before you reach America. But you reach it, and you are poked and prodded and sold; your name is changed; you are separated from your family. You are put to work on a plantation where you toil from sunup to sundown seven days a week, every single day of the year. You are often starving; you are often beaten by the master for any reason while working in the fields. You sleep twenty or more in one room, often on a bare wooden floor. You cannot marry, you cannot learn to read, and any children you have are taken from you and sold off to who knows where. But then the Civil War happens and you’re suddenly freed and you can be a sharecropper on some white man’s land using the skills you learned on the plantation and you think that’s a positive thing? Kindly fuck all the way off you self-entitled soulless fool.

Brian Kilmeade, Fox News host, on Jason Aldean’s inflammatory, racist, hate-filled song: “I looked at some of the lyrics, because in country music you can actually understand them. He’s taking it from the news. This is happening. This is so outrageous. There’s lawlessness everywhere. He’s trying to say, ‘In a small town—we’ve given up supporting the cops—we elect our own sheriffs, we take care of our own, and if you come in my house, you’re going to get shot.’ That’s called the American dream.” I must have missed that dream of shooting people; just like I missed the dream where if you’re different from lily white faux-christian gun-toting conservatives then you don’t belong in their towns. And you should be careful, Brian, because with the plucked eyebrows, and the tinge of blush on the cheeks, along with a hint of gloss on the lips, you’d be run out of Jason Aldean’s small town. And don’t forget: small towns murdered Emmett Till and Matthew Shepard just for being different.

Kamala Harris, Vice President, criticizing Florida “extremists” for backing educational guidelines to teach “revisionist history” about slavery being “good” for slave: “Adults know what slavery really involved. It involved rape. It involved torture. It involved taking a baby from their mother. It involved some of the worst examples of … depriving people of humanity in our world. How is it that anyone could suggest that, in the midst of these atrocities, that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization? They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it.” It's insanity. Racist, revisionist, insanity.

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And I'm wondering just how tumultuous this week is going to be for the Republican party. Last week they had some bad moments, and they had some worse moments. I saw an interesting comparison between Nixon and Trump in that Nixon had Ehrlichman, Haldeman, and Dean, while Trump has the valet, the pool boy, and the geek; can we talk lack of sophistication here?


A low point was probably Sammy Alito admitting to the Wall Street Journal that he believed himself, and the other members of the Supreme Court to be demi-gods, unfettered by any rules and regulations Congress might attempt to apply to their ethics.


Though honestly, I have to admit that Ronnie DeSantis and his team doubling down on his new education agenda stating that some slaves benefitted from being slaves. I sit wondering what black Republicans must be thinking about this white guy, and his team, telling them that their great, great grandparents, and the seven generations of grandparents before them, actually benefited from being slaves, that they learned something that helped them in their personal lives... as slaves.

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Meanwhile, at Mar-a-Lago…




"Dammit, I told you to delete those tapes."

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When Dealing with Trump, Republicans Should Remember Employee 4



It’s still possible to stand up to The Boss.
From Politico, by Jack Shafer:
In addition to the criminal charges previously filed against emperor-in-exile Donald Trump for his alleged pack-ratting of classified documents in various locations at his Florida Xanadu, special counsel Jack Smith supplied a few bonus ones on Thursday evening. In it, Smith accuses Trump and one of his aides — who was also newly indicted — of planning in June 2022 to delete security camera recordings of people moving document-laden boxes the day after Trump’s lawyers learned that the footage would be subpoenaed.
This latest wrinkle in the alleged classified document caper can be read in several ways. By Ruth Marcus’ account in the Washington Post, it looks like a Watergate-style cover-up. “Drip by drip, count by count, obstructive act by obstructive act, the seriousness of this situation comes into focus,” Marcus writes. If you’re a fan of the Godfather movies, the story resembles the machinations of a criminal syndicate chief attempting to destroy evidence in a quest to outwit the local D.A. According to the filing, several days after Trump spoke by phone to Carlos De Oliveira, a loyal soldier in his organization, De Oliveira tried to swear another Trump soldier to omerta and repeatedly told him that “the boss” wanted the server with footage of the moving boxes deleted.
But if viewed with the mind of a miniaturist, the superseding indictment illustrates how Trump has worked his way to control and direct the entire Republican Party.
Despite Trump having lost the 2018 midterms, the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms, despite having unleashed his violent army on Congress on Jan. 6, and despite having spread an encyclopedia worth of lies since launching his campaign in 2015, the GOP follows his lead. Trump considers himself The Boss. The Boss does what he wants to do. The Boss tells his underlings — whether they work at Mar-a-Lago or labor in the Republican Party — what to do. He’s the authoritarian who flexes authority. And in the name of loyalty, he demands obedience from his order-takers to shield him from legal exposure. It’s almost hard to begrudge him for it because most of the time, it seems to work.
Trump attracts and grooms zealots and fanatics and then sends them off into battle in his service without a thought to the consequences for other lives. And in the case of the game of musical chairs he allegedly played in Florida with some of the government’s prized national security secrets, he’s created accomplices to his alleged crimes.
Politics wouldn’t be politics without an element of coercion. Operators like Boss Tweed and Lyndon Johnson didn’t move legislation by the force of their personalities alone. The stick must always be used in conjunction with the carrot. But Trump has erected his political career on a foundation of absolute loyalty to Trump. There can be no loyal opposition within his party without him blowing a gasket and there can be no staffer at his Florida home who can think they should not obstruct justice if that’s what The Boss wants.
We hear the demanding voice of The Boss in the famous 30-minute July 25, 2019, phone call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he seems to suggest Zelenskyy should launch an investigation of Joe Biden’s son [[a call that took place just days before Trump ordered a hold on aid to Ukraine). We heard it most recently in his denunciation of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds for not endorsing him for president in the current campaign. Because The Boss once endorsed Reynolds, he thinks he owns her. He urges candidates to primary Republicans who defy him. He makes his wrath so transparent that most other Republicans — including most of the candidates currently running against him — fear saying anything negative about him, even though he no longer wields presidential power.

In a brilliant multi-part series for the Bulwark, William Saletan recently laid out how Trump used his powers of bossdom to turn one of the most independent and clear-thinking Republicans, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, into his frightened, caged rabbit. At the beginning of the 2016 campaign, Graham saw Trump for what he was. “Hateful.” A “demagogue.” A “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot” who “represents the worst in America.” But as the ring of power slid onto one of Trump’s short fingers, Graham became the Trumpiest of Trumpies. You could have some sympathy for Graham if he had become Trump’s mini-me out of fear, like some other Republicans. But as Saletan establishes, Graham’s transformation was so complete there wasn’t any Trump indiscretion or authoritarian power grab for which Graham wouldn’t formulate an excuse. If sucking up were a crime, Graham would be a repeat felon.
It has become the stuff of legend and song how Trump goes beyond the usual political boundaries to bend — or attempt to bend — everybody in his path to his will. The good news out of yesterday’s superseding indictment is that some of Trump’s employees might have better moral judgment and a finer sense of who and what deserves their loyalty than a lot of Republicans. The scheme to delete the security footage, allegedly ordered by Trump, was not completed.
When De Oliveira asked another Trump employee, identified as Employee 4 in the indictment, to erase the footage, he was rebuffed. Employee 4 said he didn’t have the right to do that. It’s a reminder that there are still two ways of being in the Republican Party: loyal and potentially criminal, or skeptical, moral and resistant to Trump.

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Devon Archer, Hunter Biden's business partner, talked to members of the House yesterday in what you might want to call a closed hearing. Republicans were not happy because he told them the truth, they're seeing a fire when there isn't even any smoke. Of course, the Republicans are the party of retaliation. Trump was impeached twice, so they desperately need to impeach Biden, their only problem is they can't find any wrongdoing. Not only is this the GOP kicking a dead horse, it's also the only thing they can do to distract from the lord and savior's legal issues. Am I the only one who can remember the times when they were constantly complaining that the Democrats were nothing but smoke and mirrors?


Fanni has said that she's locked, and loaded, and ready to go. Her indictments are supposed to begin in early August, and... well, we're in early August.

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And, of course, late yesterday afternoon the sun came out and filled so many American hearts with glowing justice. I was in the kitchen when the first notification The Guardian came through on my watch, and then another notification, and the vibrations continued, the NYT, the Washington Post, the BBC, Le Monde, Al Jazeera; notifications from newsgroups I wasn't even subscribed to: Donald Trump had just been indicted for January 6. So many of us have been waiting for such a very long time for this.


On an even brighter note, there are 6 more indictments to come. Many think one of those 6 will Rudy Giuliani, however, if his attorneys are to be believed, he didn't receive a target letter. That would lead to the inference that he flipped and worked out some sort of plea deal.


Jack Smith promised a speedy trial, normally that means within 70 days. The judge assigned is an Obama appointee who has little patience for the nonsense Trump's legal team will try to foist on her. I'm hoping hearings will start in late November, early December.


I don't know about you, but, as I told a friend last evening, I'm enjoying the Hell out of this. Judgement is coming not only for Trump, but for the Republican party as well.

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Third Time's the Charm?

[Jerry Oz]

Your modern GOP, folks:

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Wednesday meme roundup: indictment edition!



Wasn't yesterday a great day in America?! These indictments are just SO MUCH FUN! I've picked some of the best memes I saw about it all to share with you. Most of them made me laugh right out loud.
Enjoy!

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Ah, those were the days....

[Jerry Oz]

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Donnie J Trumpbag will be making an appearance here this afternoon. He'll be getting fingerprinted and a mug shot will be taken. He's desperately going to try and get a copy of that picture for his adorning fans. In case you haven't noticed, his messaging has begun to change, he's now saying telling his cult that he's being persecuted for them. His cultists love this shit. They will send him more money which he will used for his defense fund. He will use them to full extent of their stupidity.


And Mikey, I'm a rather spineless individual, Pence spoke out yesterday against Trump... for the first time. A lot of people were commenting about that on social media, as if he'd actually grown a set of cojones. Is this going to help him in his run for Republican nomination? Not one bit. He's spent 4 years kissing Trump's ass and then after Jan 6 demurely rejected any form of mild criticism. Did this dunce truly believe Trump was going to let him ever be president? Still, we need to remember that ever attack on Trump by a Republican, no matter how small the arrow, is still damaging. The hard core cult will remain, but others will slowly peel themselves away. Does this mean they're going to vote for Biden? Nope, they're going to sit on their vote this elections cycle.

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rotfl!!!

[9A]

Must see video from Morning Joe.

Donald Trump vs. The Peaceful Transfer of Power [turn on the sound]

https://twitter.com/Morning_Joe/stat...33160680701954

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Chris Christie, on government overreach regarding transgender Americans: “I don’t think anything can replace parents when you’re talking about major decisions that are needed to be made for our children. And I ... want all parents out there to think about something. How many other decisions do you want the government making for you in your home regarding your kids? I don’t want any of those decisions made by the government. Parents are the ones who love their children the most, who care about their children the most, who understand their children the most. And parents should be the ones making these decisions. I’ll tell you, it’s more of a parent’s decision than it’s a governor’s decision, for goodness sakes … you really think that Sarah Huckabee Sanders should be making this decision for children in Arkansas? ... I don’t think she would ever allow the government to substitute her judgment as a mother for their judgment. And that’s what I’m saying ... I want those decisions to be made by parents, not by the government.” I don’t care for Christie, but he’s spot on about these GOP governors and such, legislating what parents can and cannot for their own children. The GOP calls itself the party of family values, as long as there are no trans kids in the family. They paint themselves as the party of small government, then try to come into your home and tell you what you can and cannot do for your own children. It’s hypocrisy and bigotry and hate masked by the GOP as family values.

Jack Schlossberg, Carolina Kennedy’s on and JFK’s grandson, on his Cousin Robert’s special brand of crazy: “President John F. Kennedy is my grandfather, and his legacy is important. It’s about a lot more than Camelot and conspiracy theories. It’s about public service and courage. It’s about civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and landing a man on the moon. Joe Biden shares my father’s vision for America, that we do things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. And he is in the middle of becoming the greatest progressive president we’ve ever had. Under Biden, we’ve added 13 million jobs, unemployment is at its lowest in 60 years. Biden passed the largest investment in infrastructure since the New Deal and the largest investment in green energy ever. He’s appointed more federal judges than any president since my grandfather. He ended our longest war. He ended the COVID pandemic, and he ended [Thing 45]. These are the issues that matter. And if my cousin, Bobby Kennedy Jr., cared about any of them, he would support Joe Biden too. Instead, he’s trading in on Camelot, celebrity conspiracy theories and conflict for personal gain and fame. I’ve listened to him. I know him. I have no idea why anyone thinks he should be president. What I do know is his candidacy is an embarrassment. Let’s not be distracted again by somebody’s vanity project. I’m excited to vote for Joe Biden in my state’s primary, and again in the general election. And I hope you will too.” Also keep in mind that the majority of donations to RFK Jr.’s campaign are coming from the right; don’t be fooled by Fox News suggesting Kennedy is the future of the Democratic party because if he was, they’d be attacking him instead of Biden.

Nikki Haley, flip-flopping again on Thing 45’s run for the White House: “We have to move forward. We’ve got to quit living in the past, and I don’t want there to be all of this division over the fact that we have a president serving years in jail over a documents trial. None of us want to be talking about indictments. I don’t even know if it’s the third, fourth, or fifth indictment right now, but what I can tell you is, it’s a distraction, and frankly, the media is talking about it nonstop. But when I do these town halls, the American public is not talking to me about that. They want to know what’s going to happen, how we’re going to go and change government for the better. They’re worried about the future for their kids and I think we owe it to them to be answering that, not how Trump’s going to defend himself.” This is the exact opposite of what she said a few weeks back, which was slightly different than what she said a few days before that. This woman cannot form an opinion and stick to it; she’s sooooo transparent.

Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation, calling out House Republicans’ obsession with restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ people while there are more pressing problems in this country: “When I’m out in Wheeling, West Virginia, or Pittsburgh at the airport or anywhere else, the questions are not about beer bottles or drag queens. The questions are about making sure that we can deliver these transportation assets that people can count on. If it is socialism, then it seems to be socialism that these Republicans love when it’s coming their way. It is maddening sometimes to look at the split screen on cable TV, and I’m trying to make sure people are aware of the literally tens of thousands of good projects we’ve already supported around the country. We need to do two things and it should not be hard to do: one is to safeguard vulnerable groups as a matter of policy, which is something we believe in as administration and is the right thing to do, and another is to keep doing the work of taking care of the basics.” The Basics? According to the GOP that's voting to remove funding for several community centers from a Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development funding bill; Republicans struck out the earmarks for three LGBTQ+ community projects out of a list of over 3000 similar, non-LGBTQ+ projects receiving similar funding, all the while claiming they are not targeting LGBTQ+ people. And the GOP has attacked LGBTQ+ people in amendments to larger bills, too, including an air travel bill and a military funding bill. GOP presidential candidates have made LGBTQ+ issues—specifically attacks on transgender children’s rights—central to their campaigns and many GOP-controlled state legislatures passed legislation attacking transgender kids’ rights. Think of all the problems we face in this country and yet the GOP only has one goal: punish the LGBTQ+ community. Vote them all out.

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