The Wisdom of Pooh

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And since this Thanksgiving week, and the Cracker Jack Crazy Republicans have gone home to nurse their greed for power, I thought I'd like to talk about something else.


We all know Christians, some are very good people who keep their religion to themselves, and then there are the others, those who see it as a way to control as many people as they possibly can, politicians, to name just one group. What do they all have in common? They have what I call the Sin of Presumptuousness. They presume that because they believe, or at least claim to believe, their own personal understanding of Christianity [[and the same thing goes for the other monotheisms), is correct, that they, themselves, are an expert in the religion. I don't know what it is, perhaps something to do with their serotonin levels, but these people have absolutely no problem with inflicting pain and suffering on those who they've judged to be wrong. These people will start wars in order to push their own religious bias onto those around them. They are the reason Christianity, as well as other religions, has begun to splinter and fall apart. Yep, that's right, they are a big factor in The Great Dechurching, and believe me, they are not going to stop until the last one of them has died.

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I did see an interesting article in Newsweek [[for the vast majority of time, they're pages are still fodder for the outhouse), which said Republicans might impeach Biden just to satisfy their base. Desperate times call for desperate measures. For them, it's always been about their base, meaning it doesn't occur to them that many voters would see this as terribly detrimental to their winning elections in 2024. Their scatter shot approach has helped them win elections in the past, but that was pre-Orange Anus. The more they lose, the more extreme they become without understanding that by doing so they move themselves farther and farther away from America's core values.

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I saw where Marjorie Taylor Green just published one, some sort of lie filled expose' on her life. I know this because so many people had clipped the page from Amazon showing that her $27 book was garnering quite a number of One Star reviews. Let's be honest, the idea that someone might be stupid enough to by a copy of her book is frightening. This might be one of the defining moments for MAGA cultism.

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STOP THE CAR....

Who else, but the GOP and war mongers. War??? I'll never understand it. I couldn't agree more with US Rep Summer Lee.







And color me confused. The US is buying bullets and bombs for Isael, then we're buying bandages and aid for Palestinians, who get shot and bombed? They wouldn't need to buy the damn aid if we didn't fund Isarel to begin with!!!

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Now that Thanksgiving is over, the Republican circus is about to begin again. Well, I'm a bit wrong on that since it never did actually stop. Take Wednesday for example: there was a fiery car crash up by the Canadian border and a number of Republicans [[Ted Cruz perhaps the most prominent) began shrieking that there was Terrorist Attack at the Rainbow Bridge of all places. Of course, these yokels were getting their info from Fox. Many of them began backtracking after it was learned that there was no terrorist. The driver of the car was a rather wealthy man, from an upscale community, driving a $300,000 car, who was a mite upset because the Kiss concert he had tickets for was cancelled, and so he and his companion decided to go to a Canadian casino instead. Everybody quietly updated... except Cruz, who still has his terror post online. It figures.

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In Central PA, there are a number of people talking about ousting Scott Perry from Congress. A former newscaster for from the local NBC affiliate, Janelle Stelson, has already thrown her hat into the ring. There's even talk of Republicans backing a Democratic candidate depending upon how Republican opposition to Perry looks. Over and over again, you're hearing that he does not represent his constituents. For those who don't know, Perry is a Trumper, and is still clinging to the election fraud lie. The DOJ is in a fierce legal battle to access contents of his cellphone during the time leading up to January 6, and the days after, leading many to believe Perry is dirty.


And Trump was seriously booed in South Carolina yesterday when he attended The Palmetto [[?) Bowl. There are a number of videos out there of the long incident, and it was pointed out that his handlers are good when it comes to arranging for small crowds, however, once he gets out in the open, the hatred for him loudly boils over.

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Vote. Vote Blue. Here's A Slew of Reasons Why

Here we are again, with a wee taste of the lunacy, racism, criminality, and bigotry and hate inside the GOP … Back in 2004, Mike Johnson, current GOP House Speaker, was the lead attorney for Stockwell Place Elementary, a school being sued for pushing Christianity on its students. A set of Jewish parents claimed the school held prayer sessions, taught Christian songs in class and promoted a teacher-led prayer group called Stallions for Christ that met during recess. Johnson warned his congregation at the Airline Drive Church of Christ in Shreveport that the lawsuit by the Jewish family was to keep Christian activities out of a public school: “The ultimate goal of the enemy is silencing the gospel. This is spiritual warfare.” No, it’s a family trying not to have another religion foisted upon their children without their consent. Imagine Mike Johnson’s reaction if Islam was pushed on his children at school. Mike Johnson is a Christian Nationalist; trust. This week, Governor Ron “Lifts” DeSantis awarded more than $28 million through the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund to expand semiconductor manufacturing and chip manufacturing through five workforce development projects. To be clear President Biden made the funds available to Florida, where the Governor there will assign the funds, but DeSantis had nothing to do with the money coming in and offered zero thanks to the man who did. President Joe Biden. Shortly before Javier Milei was elected president of Argentina, United States Representative, and Republican, María Elvira Salazar praised the country as having everything, including “only one culture, only one religion and only one race, completely homogeneous.” Christian Nationalist and racist ideals propagated by the GOP. A 56-year-old man from western NY crashed his car near the Rainbow Bridge border checkpoint from the US into Canada. He was reportedly supposed to be at a Kiss concert that was cancelled, so he decided to go to a Niagara Falls casino in Canada with his wife in their $300,000 Bentley; they both died in a fiery crash. But Fox News and right-wing Republicans, who have been waiting for a terror attack related to border security, to blame on Biden, began spreading disinformation that the vehicle was “full of explosives” and that it was a “terrorist attack.” The man was pissed because KISS cancelled a concert and rightwingnuts and Fox News used that story to lie about a terror attack. Back to Tiny Ron DeSantis who, in his latest appeal to MAGAts and racists, threatened to send “Kamala [Harris] back to her liberal homeland.” Her homeland is California, but the racist tome of this remark seems to suggest that because of her skin color, Harris is not an American. Racist. GOP. Ron DeSantis. In Arkansas, GOP Governor and former Liar-In-Chief to Inmate # P01135809, Sarah Huckabee Sanders held kickoff party for the Arkansas Razorbacks 2023 football season which cost the people of Arkansas over $13,000, including $1400 for gingham tablecloths, $600 for pom-poms, and $450 for buttons that read “Best Gov/Best State;” it costs a lot to feed Aunt Lydia’s ego. It was invitation-only and I guarantee the people of Arkansas did not sign off on their money being used to feed Huckleberry Cronies.

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Is Joe Biden too old to be president? I’m not sure, though I’d prefer handing the reins off to someone younger, like Inmate # P01135809, who used Veterans Day to honor our troops by quoting Adolf Hitler:

“In honor of our great veterans on Veteran’s Day, we pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country, lie, steal and cheat on Elections … “

Hitler once said:

“We pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country,.”

Is Joe too old? Maybe, but between the choice of too old and someone who quotes Hitler I choose age over a traitor.


Speaking of Demented, here again is Inmate # P01135809, confusing President Biden with President Obama:

“The head of Hungary ... Viktor Orban, did anybody ever hear him? Probably, you know, considered very powerful, very powerful within his country and outside of his country, not exactly loved by some of the European nations ... he didn’t allow millions of people to invade his country ... so he doesn’t have crime and he doesn’t have the problems that they’re having in other countries where millions of people who are allowed to go in. But they were interviewing him two weeks ago and they said, ‘What would you advise President Obama? The whole world seems to be exploding and imploding.’ And he said ‘It’s very simple. He should immediately resign and they should replace him with President Trump, who kept the world safe.'”

Liar and demented.


And speaking of crazy, Ron DeSantis is telling Iowans that in the unlikely event the Bahamas got warlike and attacked South Florida, he would obliterate the island:

“And I thought to myself like if the Bahamas were firing rockets into Fort Lauderdale, like we would not accept that for like one minute. I mean, we would just level it. We would never be willing to live like that as Americans.”

Like I guess he like thinks Hamas and like the BaHamas are like the same place?


A vast majority of Republicans say they support installing deterrents such as razor wire and deadly buoy barriers in rivers to prevent immigrants from entering the country illegally, even if people are endangered or killed.
They are okay with murder.


Mississippi Governor, and Republican Tate Reeves’ top campaign contributors, who gave his campaign at least $50,000 received a total of $1.4 billion in state contracts or grants since he took office in 2020.
Quite a bargain. The GOP is for sale, clearly.


Some central Florida lawmakers are considering “all legislative, legal and executive options available” to stop business owners in a small town from voluntarily displaying rainbow decals in their windows indicating that they are “safe place” for LGBTQ+ people who feel threatened.
You can’t say gay, and you certainly can be gay-friendly, or even a safe place for LGBTQ+ Floridians.


The Houston Independent School District, the largest in Texas and the eighth-largest in the country, will eliminate librarian positions in 28 schools in order to turn the libraries into “discipline centers.” The move does not appear to be budget related, as librarians will be allowed to apply for other positions and the state has a $32 billion surplus.
No books; no study aids; detention centers.


Hung Cao, a Republican running for US Senate in Virginia, is warning voters that “witchcraft” has “taken over” in some parts of California because a place in Monterey, California that was once called ‘Lovers of Christ Point,’ is now called ‘Lover’s Point.'

“They took out the Christ, it’s ‘Lover’s Point,’ and it’s really—Monterey’s a very dark place now, a lot of witchcraft, and the Wiccan community has really taken over there. We can’t let that happen in Virginia.”

And so he’s running on the “There’s Witches In California” platform.
And that’s just a small taste of GOP lunacy.
Christian Nationalism; racism; anti-LGBTQ+; banning libraries; lying, cheating, g rifting; fearmongering.

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So many contradictions. Christians who aren't. Public servants who don't.

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This week Mr-Former-Fake-One-Term-Twice-Impeached-Currently-Four-Time-Criminally-Indicted-Not-My-President-Gurl came to South Carolian for the Palmetto Bowl game between Clemson and USC. And because he can’t control crowds he doesn’t hire, Thing 45 was soundly booed as he arrived and given many one finger salutes, at the game. Even better is that billboard erected in downtown Columbia reminding him that he’s a loser. Sometimes South Carolinians get it right. PS Notice that the sign was sponsored by “Radical Leftist Vermin.”

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And Then There’s This…

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Henry Kissinger died yesterday. He was 100. Very Old. He was not a very good man, still quite a number of presidents turned to him for advice. He was a good negotiator, but didn't really give a shit about humanity. Fame and ego were everything to him; people were not.


And the funny of the day come from Elon Musk. For someone who loved being praised for being a great businessman and innovator, his death spiral couldn't be anymore entertaining. He bought Twitter [[notice, I don't say X, formally known as Twitter) saying it was going to become a platform of Free Speech. For Elon, however, Free Speech put a lot of focus on conspiracy theories, fascist groups, and hate speech. He simply didn't realize that Free Speech, itself, has some limitations. You can not say anything you want without having to deal with the consequences of public opinion, and that's something he just does not understand, probably because in his small mind, his is the only opinion that counts. Anyway, his jumping onboard an antisemitic conspiracy theory seems to have been the straw that broke the advertising camel's back, because advertisers are heading to safer grounds; they don't want their ads airing next to pro-Nazi bullshit, among many other things. So, in a pique of anger Elon lashed out yesterday, telling advertisers that if they didn't like what was on Twitter they can "go fuck yourselves." Ouch! Can you hear me laughing?

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I'm Sorry [[but so is Brenda Lee)

I'm probably being misogynistic or transphobic or something, but is it just me, or does Elon Musk look like what we assume Amelia Earhart might after a makeover at any Rexall Drug store.

His rouge and lipstick choices aren't really what you'd expect a multi-billionaire to choose.


But I'm not here to bash his looks [[well, I kind of am....and did!). I'm here to bash him. Period.


Musk can say he's not antisemitic, but philosemitic - but right now those are just words. And last I looked, the antisemitic tweet [[can it still be called a 'tweet' if there is technically no Twitter?) is still up and nothing he's pulled back.


He's antisemitic.


Musk claims his trip to Israel was not an apology tour - but it was. And it wasn't. I think to be an apology tour one must at least say "I'm sorry". And he did, in an truly non-apologetic way. Something someone might say like, "sorry you took it the wrong way".


Here is how we know he's not sorry. Several advertisers have distanced themselves from X. Mind you - many of these same advertisers distanced themselves before when he did / said something asinine....yet they came back.


I'd like to think it's harder to align yourself to someone who has a platform, and has the most followers on said platform, who makes Jew-hating rhetoric. You know who does that? Antisemites. And Elon Musk.


If A = B and B = C, then..............


So here was Musk's response to those advertisers:


“I don’t want them to advertise,” he said at the New York Times DealBook Summit in New York. “If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money go fuck yourself. Go. Fuck. Yourself,” he said. “Is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel” he added, referring to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who spoke earlier at the summit on Wednesday.

Smooth talker!


Also in the audience? The CEO he just hired to woo advertisers. I'm assuming she negotiated a really really good exit clause package. She's gonna need it.


So calling it 'blackmail' to pull dollars from a stinking ship [[nope, not a typo) is hardly a 'sorry I fucked up' speech.


Elon - if you want to treat people like shit [[and clearly you do), you're gonna have to get a thicker skin. It's not a rubber / glue situation here. They're not treating you like shit, they're responding to their shareholders and their client base. It's basic capitalism. I'm sure Cracker Barrel and the KKK will be more than happy to spend their advertising dollars at your crappy little platform.


And to quote you to you: Go. Fuck. Yourself.

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Thursday, November 30, 2023

Moms for Liberty founder and Florida's GOP chairman both embroiled in sex scandal with allegations of rape, group sex, and videotaping

Moms for Liberty founder Bridget Ziegler [[top picture) and her husband, Florida GOP chairman Christian Ziegler [[bottom picture) are embroiled in a scandal with allegations of rape, group sex, and videotaping.

A huge scandal is brewing in Florida which not only caps off an extremely bad month for SPLC-designated hate group Moms for Liberty but also threatens to engulf the state Republican Party. And in a dose of karma, the scandal involves sex.
From The Florida Trident:

Christian Ziegler, Florida’s GOP chairman and husband of Sarasota County School Board member and Moms of Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, is under criminal investigation after a woman filed a complaint with the Sarasota Police Department alleging the longtime Republican official had raped her, according to a heavily redacted police report obtained by the Florida Trident.
The complaint was filed on October 4 and the alleged sexual battery occurred inside the woman’s home in Sarasota on October 2, according to the report. Among the few words that went unredacted in the report are “rape” and “sexual assault complaint.”
The woman, according to sources close to the investigation, alleged that she and both Zieglers had been involved in a longstanding consensual three-way sexual relationship prior to the incident. The incident under investigation by Sarasota police occurred when Christian Ziegler and the woman were alone at the woman’s house, without Bridget Ziegler present, the sources conveyed.
Sources also corroborated that a search warrant was executed on Christian Ziegler’s cell phone and that investigators continue to conduct a forensic examination of the electronic device. Christian Ziegler is also alleged to have secretly videotaped the sexual encounters between the couple and the woman, which had been occurring for the past three years, sources said.
There have been no charges filed in the case and the Trident is unaware whether the woman’s allegations have been substantiated. A voicemail was left with Mr. Ziegler for comment and a message was left at Bridget Ziegler’s school board office. Neither had been returned prior to publishing this story.

After the news of the scandal came out, Moms for Liberty tweeted but then deleted the following message in support of Ziegler.

As I said before, November has been a bad month for Moms for Liberty.
Earlier, they lost several school board elections across the nation,
Then they faced questions of affiliations with nationalist hate The Proud Boys after two chapter leaders got caught taking a picture with Proud Boys members while flashing white power signs,
And finally, a pastor who coordinated faith-based outreach for them was discovered to be a registered sex offender.

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David Cross, stand-up comedian, actor, director, on that history book, The Bible: “Back when the Bible was written, then edited, then rewritten, then rewritten, then re-edited, then translated from the Dead Languages, then re-translated, then edited, then rewritten, then given to the kings for them to take their favorite parts, then rewritten, then rewritten, then translated again, then given to the Pope for him to approve, then rewritten, then edited again, then re-re-re-re-rewritten again … all based on stories that were told orally 30 to 90 years after they happened, to people who didn’t know how to write so …” Also take in the fact that parts of the “book” were taken out and lost because perhaps they didn’t fit the narrative that the men in power were pushing. It’s a history book, y’all, and nothing more.

Mike Johnson, GOP Speaker of the House, and Satan’s favorite Republican, on Separation of Church and State: “Separation of church and state is a misnomer. People misunderstand it. Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote is not in the Constitution. And what he was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church, not that they didn’t want principles of faith to have influence on our public life. It’s exactly the opposite. Faith, our deep religious heritage and tradition is a big part of what it means to be an American. That’s why I think we need more of that. Not an establishment of any national religion, but we need everybody’s vibrant expression of faith, because it’s such an important part of who we are as a nation.” Hey, Mike, you Christian Nationalist racist f*ck, there are three central concepts derived from the 1st Amendment which became America's doctrine for church-state separation: 1] No coercion in religious matters 2] No expectation to support a religion against one's will 3] Religious liberty encompasses all religions. Basically that means that any and all Americans are free to embrace or reject any and all faiths, and support for religion—financial or physical—must be voluntary, and all religions are equal in the eyes of the law with no special preference or favoritism. So we are not now, nor have we ever been a Christian nation, no matter how many bigots say God told ‘em so.

Jenna Ellis, convicted former Thing 45 attorney, spilling the tea on Thing 45’s social media director Dan Scavino on “The Boss” leaving office: “And he said to me, in a kind of excited tone, ‘Well, we don’t care, and we’re not going to leave. And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And he said ‘Well, the boss,’ meaning [Thing 45]—and everyone understood ‘the boss,’ that’s what we all called him—he said, ‘The boss is not going to leave under any circumstances. We are just going to stay in power.’ And I said to him, ‘Well, it doesn’t quite work that way, you realize?’ and he said, ‘We don’t care.'” And still she did nothing other than goose-step along with a lunatic. Jenna is trying to play both sides of the fence but she is a traitor to this country and to her alleged faith. She can politely fuck all the way off.

Marlon Wayans, comedian and actor, on having a transgender child and his acceptance and “complete unconditional love” for them and his struggle with the pronouns: “Skittles, or Rainbow Child [a new comedy special], is about my daughter—I have a daughter that transitioned into a son. My daughter Amai is now Kai. And so I talk about the transition. Not their transition, but my transition as a parent going from ignorance and denial to complete unconditional love and acceptance. I think there’s a lot of parents out there that need to have that message, and I know. I’m dealing with it. It was a very painful situation for me. But, man, it’s one of the best, funniest hours I could possibly imagine. They know I love them. They see I’m trying … but I gotta respect their wishes, right? And as a parent, I just want my kids to be free. I want them to be free in spirit, free in thought. Free to be themselves. The more you know yourself, the more you can govern yourself, the more you live your truth, the happier your existence. So if they can’t get that in the household, with their father and their mother, how the fuck do I send them out into the world with that kind of confidence? I’m just so proud of them for being them, but that don’t mean I don’t got jokes. I felt like I want to do this set right here because it’s important to me. What’s important to me? Comedy. What’s important to me? My children who I love. And what’s important? Change. And so all you world leaders … I want you to think about these people, and this synapse, and how to be inclusive of this next generation. Because I see a lot of gray hair here, but these kids we’re dealing with here, they’re different. And we can’t have our old ways and expect to do new things. So please embrace the new.” Pretty simple, no?

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That's Christian and Bridgett Ziegler. He's the GOP Chairman in Florida and she's a co-founder of the Moms for Liberty. Apparently they've been in a consensual menage a trois [[threesome, for those who don't know French) with another woman for some time. Evidently, this 3rd party has accused Christian of rape [[and other things), and the shit is about to hit the fan. The Moms for Liberty had released a statement supporting Bridgett, but later retracted. Of course, being devout Christians [[not a pun), Chris and Bridgett believe all they have to do is ask God to forgive them and things will be hunky dory. Wrong.

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In Three Words...George Santos


I'll start. In my best Mother Burnside voice from Auntie Mame-
"Solong... Yankee Girrrrrrrrl."

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Of course, yesterday was George Santos' last day as a Congressman. The vote to get him out is considered a landslide: 311 voted to oust the phony, that includes both Republicans and Democrats. Some whiners complained that it sets a bad precedent because he wasn't convicted of any crimes, 20 of those whiners were Democrats, the rest were Republicans. That's amusing. Now the Republican majority is one seat short. There's going to be a special election in February to replace Georgie. Some are thinking it might be a highly contested race. Not me. Santos flipped the seat, it wasn't always Republican. Now, thanks to all of the slimy shenanigans taking place on the GOP side of the House of Representatives, it's going to flip back.

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The Ballad of George Santos

DECEMBER 2, 2023
From Esquire, by Charles P. Pierce:

What is this country coming to when even a legendary Baruch College volleyball star can’t hold onto a seat in Congress? Are our standards just a bit too high these days? On Thursday, the House of Representatives, in which still sit Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Clay Higgins, and other undisciplined fauna, expelled Rep. George Santos [[D-Fantasy Island) on charges of aggravated mopery. More Republicans voted to keep him than voted to 86 him, but 105 of them bucked their leadership to vote yes on the motion to expel. Speaker Mike Johnson dithered and then offered Santos some tepid support, but he did vote against expelling him, as did Steve Scalise and Elise Stefanik, both members of the Republican leadership team in the House.

Thus ends the saga. Santos burned a remarkable trail through a remarkable political age. He lied about almost everything in his public life. He brought into our political ecology several entertaining species, and all of them him. There was the volleyball star, the stoic child of a 9/11 victim, the good “Jew-ish” boy, the party boy dancing in drag in Brazil, self-described Republican “It Girl,” self-described “Mary Magdalene of the Congress,” and the vengeful victim of selective justice. Back on November 24, Santos took to Xwitter to announce his intention to bring the temple down on his own head. “I have colleagues who are more worried about getting drunk every night with the next lobbyist that they’re gonna screw and pretend like none of us know what’s going on, and sell off the American people, not show up to vote because they’re too hungover or whatever the reason is, or not show up to vote at all and just give their card out like fucking candy for someone else to vote for them. This shit happens every single week. Where are the ethics investigations?” It was one of the latter that did him in. He’d already dodged expulsion once. Then the House Ethics Committee released its report on his staggering record of corruption. From CNN: In December 2021, Santos put taxi and hotel charges from Las Vegas on the campaign credit card, even though that was a time when he told his campaign staff he was on his honeymoon and there were no campaign events on his calendar. A Federal Election Commission report listed a July 7, 2022, $3,332.81 Airbnb expenditure as “Hotel stay,” when the campaign’s calendar revealed Santos was “off at [the] Hampton’s for the weekend.” Santos also spent $2,281.52 at resorts in Atlantic City from July 23 to July 24, 2022, a day when his calendar revealed he had one event at 8pm on the 24th entitled “NRCC Candidate.” Examples in the report include: $1,400 at Virtual Skin Spa in Jericho, New York, in July 2022; $225 at CityMD in Huntington, New York, on August 27, 2022; $1,500 purchase on the campaign debit card in 2020 was made at Mirza Aesthetics, which was not reported to the FEC and was noted as “Botox” in expense spreadsheets; $1,400 charge at Virtual Skin Spa was a campaign debit card purchase that was also described as “Botox” in the spreadsheets; an unreported PayPal payment of $1,029.30 to an esthetician associated with a spa in Rhinebeck, New York[ $4,127.80 purchase at Hermes, Smaller purchases at Only Fans, Sephora, meals, and parking. The report also cited some of the more egregious of the barefaced non-facts about his biography in which Santos trafficked. Topping the vulnerability report are Santos’ lies about his education – that he graduated with an MBA from New York University and a bachelor’s degree from Baruch College. “The registrar offices at both institutions said there was no record of Santos earning any degree from either university,” the report said. The report also detailed “at least three housing eviction lawsuits were filed against Santos and his family in Queens, New York” between 2014 and 2017, and notes that Santos has had “multiple civil judgments filed against him for owing thousands of dollars to creditors.” In its report, the committee concluded that there “is substantial evidence” that most of the nearly $800,000 that Santos reported making in personal loans to his campaign committee and to an aligned leadership PAC in the 2020 and 2022 election cycles “were not actually made or properly disclosed” to regulators at the Federal Election Commission, known as the FEC. [[Santos ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2020 before winning his Long Island seat last year.) Additionally, the investigators found that Santos was improperly “reimbursed” with donors’ money for campaign loans he didn’t make. The House was not amused. And Thursday’s events inevitably ensued. Santos leaves the House with a 23-count federal indictment hanging over his unemployed head. The Justice Department charged him with using contributors’ credit cards to the tune of $44,000. That, too, failed to amuse the House. Santos now joins five other people on the roster of people declared unfit to work in the same body as Mark Foley or Lauren Boebert. Three of them were expelled for fighting on behalf of the Confederate States of America. One of the others went out for involvement in the ABSCAM scandal in 1980. An attempt to expel several members of Congress entangled in the Congressional page sex scandal in 1983 was short-circuited by a congressional censure of the offending congressmen. Santos is the first member to be expelled since 2002. And that was a doozy, too.

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And I don't know about you, but it seems to me that with the expulsion of George Santos from the House of Representatives things are turning... well, bleaker, shall I say. All of last week was not a winning week for them, to be honest. The faux debate between Newsome and Ronnie D totally failed to pop Ronnie D's numbers. Not good. Hunter Biden volunteered to testify before Congress as long as it was an open session, not behind closed doors, and the Republicans shit a brick. That's the last thing they want. Bridget and Christian Ziegler began to answer the question of what happens to a socially conservative couple when their menage a trois goes awry. I'm betting Christian does time in the big house. And in a speech he was giving, Trump told the crowd he had 3 children... until and aid reminded him about Baroon.

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Cheney’s Anti-Trump Book Debuts Atop Bestsellers Lists

December 6, 2023 Politics, Republicans

The Hill reports:

Former Rep. Liz Cheney’s [[R-Wyo.) highly anticipated memoir officially launched Tuesday and soared to the top of bestseller lists. By midday Tuesday, Amazon marked it as “temporarily out of stock,” though it was still accepting orders.
Cheney has been on a media tour for her new book, “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning,” which warns of the danger to democracy that a second term with former President Trump in the White House would bring. Trump is the leading GOP candidate for president in 2024.

Read the full article. Meanwhile, MTG’s self-praising audition to be Hair Furor’s running mate is ranked today at #4291.

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Facing Jail Time Tends to Concentrate the Mind

DECEMBER 6, 2023 |
From The Washington Post:
MADISON, Wis. —In a legal settlement Wednesday, the 10 Republicans who signed official-looking paperwork falsely purporting Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2020 have agreed to withdraw their inaccurate filings, acknowledge Joe Biden won the presidency and not serve as presidential electors in 2024 or in any election where Trump is on the ballot.
Wednesday’s civil settlement marks the first time pro-Trump electors have agreed to revoke their false filings and not repeat their actions in the next presidential election. It comes as Republicans in two other states face criminal charges for falsely claiming to be presidential electors, and investigations are underway in three additional states.
Documents released as part of the settlement revealed one of the Wisconsin Republicans appeared to refer to the attempt to install Trump for a second term as a “possible steal.” That Republican expressed skepticism about the plan but told others he was going along with it in part because he feared he would face blowback from Trump supporters if he didn’t.
Republicans in seven states that Biden won — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — filled out paperwork in December 2020 falsely claiming Trump had actually won, and Trump’s supporters used that material to try to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory. Congress confirmed Biden had won on Jan. 6, 2021, hours after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.







Special counsel Jack Smith has been investigating the attempt to overturn the 2020 results for the Department of Justice, while some state and local prosecutors are conducting their probes of the GOP electors. Prosecutors in Michigan and Georgia have filed felony charges against some Republican electors, and state probes are underway in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.
In Wisconsin, the Republicans said they met at the state capitol to sign the paperwork so their votes would count if a court ever overturned Biden’s victory in the state. They met about an hour after the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Biden’s victory in a 4-3 decision that Trump later unsuccessfully appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In addition to agreeing to not serve as presidential electors in 2024 or in any election in which Trump is on the ballot, the 10 Republicans said they would not assist with any attempts to submit false electoral paperwork in any election. They also promised to assist the Department of Justice with its investigation and help the Biden electors as they continue their lawsuit against Troupis and Chesebro. Troupis did not immediately respond to a request for comment and an attorney for Chesebro did not have an initial comment.
In the settlement, the Wisconsin Republicans acknowledged Biden won the 2020 election and said they were not the state’s true electors, as they had claimed in the paperwork they filed three years ago.
“We oppose any attempt to undermine the public’s faith in the ultimate results of the 2020 presidential election,” they said in a statement included in the settlement. “We hereby withdraw the documents we executed on Dec. 14, 2020, and request that they be disregarded by the public and all entities to which they were submitted.”

Among the 10 agreeing to the settlement are Andrew Hitt, who was the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party in 2020, and Robert Spindell, a longtime Republican activist who also serves on the state agency responsible for administering elections and certifying results.
Spindell did not immediately return a call. Hitt said in a statement he and the others were deceived.
“The Wisconsin electors were tricked and misled into participating in what became the alternate elector scheme and would have never taken any actions had we known that there were ulterior reasons beyond preserving an ongoing legal strategy,” Hitt said.
The records also show the Republicans tried to keep their meeting out of the public eye, changing which room in the state capitol they met in to avoid passing the office of a Democratic lawmaker whose staff might recognize them. They brought a four-man armed security team with them, according to the text messages.
Attorneys for the Biden electors said they viewed the settlement as a success because it included the release of records that detailed how the Republicans carried out their plans. They said they hoped it would prevent anyone from filing false elector paperwork in the future.
“What you see in the documents is that, although many people involved have sort of disapproval and sometimes disgust with what is going on, no one said stop,” said Scott Thompson, an attorney with the liberal nonprofit firm Law Forward that represented the Biden electors.







On Jan. 5, 2021 — a day before the Capitol was attacked as Congress met to certify the results — Wisconsin GOP staffer Alesha Guenther flew to Washington so she could deliver the elector paperwork for the Wisconsin Republicans.
“5 minutes until I make the drop,” she told Hitt in one text exchange. “I feel like a drug dealer.”

[lakeside]

Why Moms for Liberty is a hate group - GLAAD breaks out the 'receipts'

When we call out Moms for Liberty for denigrating LGBTQ people and various other vile acts, it's vital that we have the specifics. In today's vernacular, those specifics are known as 'receipts.' Luckily for those wanting to those 'receipts,' GLAAD has published a detailed invoicing of the many ways Moms for Liberty has attacked, lied about, and basically stigmatized our community.
Among other things, Moms for Liberty members and supporters have called for LGBTQ students to be put in separate classes, have spread lies about LGBTQ books, blamed the trans community for a school shooting, have called for violence against librarians and trans teachers, have been arrested for harassment, smeared school board members who oppose them as pedophiles, and filed a false charge of child abuse against a school board member and then shouted “Be careful, your mommy hurts little kids,” at her five-year-old child. And that barely scratches the surface.

Moms For Liberty [[M4L) was founded in January 2021 claiming it will “organize, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights.” This advocacy has included calls for book bans, classroom censorship, and bans on teaching about slavery, race, racism and LGBTQ people and history. Moms for Liberty bills itself as a “grassroots organization of moms,” but its founders and founding chapter have strong ties to high-ranking elected officials and financial support from national anti-LGBTQ groups including the Heritage Foundation.

—Spreads inaccurate and inflammatory claims about LGBTQ books, including the memoir of Black and queer author George M. Johnson All Boys Aren’t Blue, for so-called “racially charged commentary” and “alternate gender ideologies” as well as sexually explicit passages, alcohol and drug use, and profanity. Johnson’s book was named a 2020 Best Book of the Year by Amazon, the New York and Chicago public libraries and Kirkus Reviews.


—Crystal Alonso, member of Moms for Liberty, Miami-Dade County, FL, says LGBTQ students should be separated into their own special class: “The kids that do have their, you know, they’re confused, or they are gay or whatnot that the way they’re trying to go about it is to make it an open conversation and an open thing in classrooms … But like for example children with autism, Down Syndrome… they have to be put into separate classrooms. I understand, because it’s a different type of education for children with those disabilities, but I think that for children that identify differently, there should also be like a specialized … something for them, so that they feel that they’re important enough that they’re being counseled…I think for the same reason why teachers wouldn’t just bring a child with autism in front of the class and be like, hey, he’s got autism. Embarrassment …”


—School board member details how Moms for Liberty targeted county guidelines to protect students’ right to dress and use bathrooms according to the gender they identify with, falsely calling school board members “pedophiles.”


—Supporters including Florida state representative Randy Fine posted a school board member’s cell phone number on Facebook. A school board member who defeated one of the founders of Moms for Liberty says opponents filed a false claim of child abuse against her, and protestors shouted at her five year old child outside her home.


—Eulalia Jimenez, chair of Moms for Liberty, Miami Chapter, spread disinformation about a shooting massacre falsely identifying the Uvalde, TX, elementary school shooter who killed 19 children and two adults, as a trans woman.


—Lied to the parents of a young person that the Rainbow Youth Project, an organization promoting the health, safety, and wellness of LGBTQ youth, was trying to “convince [their child] to have his private parts removed and changed.”


—The chairperson of the Monroe County, PA, chapter was arrested on a “summary charge of harassment” after allegedly repeatedly harassing an individual with messages.


—The head of communications of the Lonoke County, AR, chapter threatened gun violence against librarians


. —Ed Kelley, a Moms for Liberty-affiliated Charleston County School Board [[SC) member, attended a Moms for Liberty meeting and publicly stated that he would bring a gun to the home of his child’s teacher if the teacher came out as trans.

Sounds like a hate group to me.