Sunday, July 10, 2022
The Funny Papers
"Trump Dump" is trending on Twitter right now.
Baby on Board
You know, the story has legs, but I'm all about the woman using the HOV lane in Texas, with just her and her baby bump.
Had she done it prior to the Roe v Wade reversal, and being from Texas, we all would have called her "Karen". But her stance that in the post Row world, her fetus is a person and should be treated as such.
It's a fucking game changer, actually. Especially if many pregnant women take that strategy. .....and even take it further.
Every pregnant person / couple should fuck with the IRS and start filing their unborn as dependents.
Every immigrant mother who is carrying cannot be deported, as it is a life and on U.S. soil, well.......you can't deport a U.S. citizen.......or citizen to be.
Flood the courts with these types of cases. Is the U.S. government really going to say, these are not children or lives because they're not yet expelled from a vaginal canal? SCOTUS has said otherwise. Every state who has since passed a 'heart-beat' bill says otherwise.
I say flood these fuckers with chaos.
Also chaos? Fuck with Brett Kavanaugh's dinner at Morton's. And yeah, I"m ok with fucking with Morton's too. Their bullshit about 'he has a right to eat without being disturbed'. Fuck. You. 157 million women might disagree. Well, you know, 120, since you gotta figure 37 mill are dried up fucking twats who vote GOP, and yet refuse one welfare dime to any of those mothers [[and were ok with separating them from their children).
SCOTUS already ruled that is ok to protest outside a physician's office or house who performs abortions. Again are you really going to have the government say it's illegal to do the same to a justice?
I mean.......except Congress already helped that along giving them protection when SCOTUS' widdle feweenings got hurt when the decision was leaked a few months back.
It seems that whole Goose / Gander things only applies when it doesn't affect them.
And since this SCOTUS is SO interested in the Second amendment, maybe they should look at the First too:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
I believe they used that to allow people protest Planned Parenthood and its employees. No?
I kid, of course. The Constitution is meaningless except for the Second amendment for any GOP'er. If they could, they'd wipe their ass with the rest of it. Metaphorically, they already have.
Listen, I'm not out-living the overturn of Roe v Wade, but I'm ok with fucking up city, state and federal government agencies until I take the big dirt nap.
And, of course, yesterday we had the January 6 committee reveal. So many good things. Ivanka danka perjuring herself was a tiny slice of delight. Texts from Brad Pascale saying, "we lost a woman," and "it's the rhetoric," were nice shiny bobbles. Trump sitting with the doors of the Oval Office open on the evening of January 5th so he could hear what he must have thought was his personal army? That was a gem. I had to laugh at Sidney Powell sucking down a Dr. Pepper, I wonder if she thought she'd get product placement revenue.
The 'unhinged' meeting of December 18. That that three people knew how to get into the White House to meet with Trump without going through official checkpoints in my mind indicates this was an inside job. The Orange Anus was evidently expecting them.
I liked the tale of the rewriting of the speech, how words kept being taken out by his speech writers and how Trump kept adding them back in. We even got to see Steve Miller, doing his best Igor impression, confirming they had been taken out of the speech. I laughed at that. Trump the loser has never stayed on point. He has always ad-libbed. His ego requires him to throw red meat to the angry mob.
And of course, the piece de resistance of the broadcast was that tiny bit of info that Trump tried to call a heretofore unnamed witness. Woah. Bad shit. Witness tampering. The DOJ is involved. I'm more interested in the identity of this unnamed witness. Hhhmmm.
Finally, I hate to disappoint many of you, but Trump will never see the inside of a jail cell. For him, that would be the ultimate loss. The instant an indictment is issue, he will run like Hell. Sitting through a trial is something his ego will never permit to happen. I'm betting he already has a plane fueled and ready to go waiting for him on the tarmac.
Gotta love those Republican Bible Bangers!
Jerry Falwell’s Pool Boy To Appear In Hulu Documentary
July 13, 2022 Christianists, Scandal
The Miami New Times reports:
In August of 2020, a Miami Beach pool boy’s account of his seven-year sexual relationship with evangelical leader Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Falwell’s wife Becki, was shared in a bombshell Reuters report. The story rocked the religious right. Falwell resigned as president of the conservative Liberty University hours after the article appeared online, and a years-long battle ensued between the erstwhile pool boy and the Falwells.
But while the Falwells have shared their side of the story, Giancarlo Granda, the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel pool boy, has yet to have his moment. Granda will be at the center of an upcoming Hulu documentary co-produced by Miami natives Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman through their film production company Rakontur, alongside Oscar winner Adam McKay.
Vote As Though Your Life Depended On It, Because Some Lives Do
I Didn't Say It
Adam Kinzinger, Illinois GOP Congressman who is not a goose-stepping party over country loon, on Thing 45’s activities during the insurrection:
“I can’t necessarily say that the motives behind every piece of information we know we’ll be able to explain. But this is going to open people’s eyes in a big way. The reality is—I will give you this preview—the president didn’t do very much but gleefully watch television during this time frame … But I could only imagine, as — I mean, I knew what I felt like as a U.S. Congressman. If I was a president, sworn to defend the Constitution—that includes the legislative branch—watching this on television, I know I would have been going ballistic to try to save the Capitol. He did quite the opposite … And if the American people watch this, particularly—I say this to my fellow Republicans—watch this with an open mind. And is this the kind of strong leader you really think you deserve?”Kinzinger makes it clear that the Committee knows what Thing 45 was up to while the Capitol was under attack; he was watching TV, watching his supporters, whom he had riled up, engaged in an act of domestic terrorism.
This is a violation of his oath of office and could lead to criminal charges against the former traitor for refusing to act while people were dying at the Capitol.
Yes. Please.
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Malaria*, former First Lady Third wife, saying she was “fulfilling” her official duties on January 6, 2021, and knew nothing of a riot:
“As with all First Ladies who preceded me, it was my obligation to record the contents of the White House’s historic rooms, including taking archival photographs of all the renovations. Several months in advance, I organized a qualified team of photographers, archivists, and designers to work with me in the White House to ensure perfect execution. As required, we scheduled January 6, 2021, to complete the work on behalf of our Nation.”Fuck you, you illiterate co-conspirator. You must be the only person in the entire world who had no idea there was an attack on the US Capitol, even though was happening just down the street.
And I guess the only TV in the White House was the one the traitor watched, and no one had a phone the entire day.
Once again, Malaria, fuck all the way off.
*Thanks to Unknown, who commented earlier week to say they call Melania “Malaria.”
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Jon Stewart, accepting the March Twain prize earlier this year:
“It’s just a reminder to people that democracy is under threat. Authoritarians are a threat to comedy, to music, to thought, to poetry. It’s not the fragility of the audiences … it’s the fragility of the leaders. And the way to guard against it isn’t to change how audiences think, it’s to change how leaders lead.”If we allow these kinds of authoritarians into office one day soon they will have come for all of us because they want an America that is all white, all straight, all Christian.
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Adam Ebbin, Democratic Virginia State Senator, taking GOP Governor Glenn Youngkin to task for saying that same-sex marriage was legally protected in his state:
“It is clear there is a bull's eye on the LGBTQ community so, it was disappointing to hear Youngkin, when pressed on whether he intended to protect marriage equality, erroneously reply, ‘In Virginia, we actually do protect same-sex marriage ... That’s the law.' Let's set the record straight. Since the passage of the infamous 2006 Marshall-Newman Amendment; Virginia’s Constitution has explicitly banned same-sex marriage ... until it was repealed in 2020. But our Constitution remains preeminent, meaning the thing protecting marriage equality in Virginia is the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. As the new Supreme Court has lurched to the extreme, Justice Clarence Thomas, in a concurring opinion overturning the right to bodily autonomy protected by Roe v. Wade, outlined the rights he believes should be toppled next — stating all rights born from the right to privacy are ‘erroneously decided’ and ‘errors’ to be ‘corrected.’ These rights include same-sex relationships, the right to birth control and the right, decided in Obergefell, to same-sex marriage.”Youngkin is lying, as he has done ever since he began running for office and continued to do once elected.
Do not believe him, West Virginia.
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Cindy McCain, saying today's GOP would be unrecognizable to her late husband, John:
"I don't believe my husband would recognize it, but I do know one thing: he'd be fighting like the dickens to able to pull it back together and bring it back to what it was during previous Republican administrations and previous administrations as well. I'm still a Republican. I believe in the party and I believe in what we stand for. But right now we've lost our way."I don’t think the GOP lost their way, I think they were led astray by a con artist and racist and rapist who bullied them into becoming his minions.
I will also say that Republicans like the McCain's could have, and should have, spoken up very loudly, and very often, about the direction the GOP was headed, and could have saved this country a lot of pain.
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The devil went down to Georgia, he was lookin’ for a soul to stealNo disrespect to the lyrics of this popular hit by Charlie Daniels, but the devil the American people experienced as their President for four years from 2016 – 2020 did indeed go down to make a deal in Georgia for the 11,780 votes he believed he needed to turn that state’s results away from Joe Biden – to allow Trump to overturn the will of the voters in Georgia and retain the oval office he couldn’t afford to lose. The devil couldn’t close that deal in Georgia or any other state because of duly elected officials who refused to tilt democracy over a cliff from which search and rescue would have been a monumental task, because 61 of 62 courts laughed his cases to delay the election results out of their courtrooms.
he was in a bind ’cause he was way behind
and he was willin’ to make a deal”
The devil grew desperate, and the results of his desperation were on full display to the world in the brutal attack on the US Capitol during the insurrection on January 06, 2021, the day the electoral ballots were brought to Congress for certification.
‘Cause Hell’s broke loose in Georgia, and the devil deals the cardsMuch has been said about restoring the soul of America, but the devil continues to play his trump cards of disillusion, deception and division from his shiny Florida fiddle made of fool’s gold.
And if you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold
But if you lose, the devil gets your soul
The 01/06 Committee has been a reminder for all people of good will that the devil is alive and if democracy loses, the devil will get our soul.
What Trump Did During Those 187 Minutes
JULY 23, 2022
From The Bulwark, by Amanda Carpenter:
Let’s put the idea to rest that Trump “did nothing” during the 187 minutes the attack on the U.S. Capitol was underway. Thanks to the Jan. 6th Committee’s Thursday hearing, we have a very good idea of exactly what Trump did.
Briefly, here it is:
- At 1:19 p.m., Trump arrived back at the White House after delivering his remarks on the Ellipse, in which he told his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.” He was notified there was violence at the Capitol. Trump reacted by making himself comfortable in the White House dining room in front of a television playing Fox News. He ordered the White House photographer not to take any photos.
- At 1:49 p.m. D.C. Metropolitan Police declared there was a riot at the Capitol. At that same moment, Trump tweeted a video of his “fight like hell” speech at the Ellipse so his followers would hear his inciting message once again.
- The Senate adjourned at 2:13 p.m. At 2:24 p.m., Trump tweeted: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” Two minutes later, Pence was evacuated to a secure location.
- As senators scurried out of the chamber, Trump dialed up GOP Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Josh Hawley to encourage them to delay counting Electoral College votes.
- White House call logs are mainly empty but show that he also called Rudy Giuliani twice that day. He did not call make any calls to the Defense Secretary, Attorney General, or Department of Homeland Security Secretary.
- Trump accepted a call from a then-House “scared” GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who begged him for help. Trump promptly ignored McCarthy’s pleas for help and, according to Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, told McCarthy: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
- As White House Counsel Pat Cipollone testified, Trump ignored all the staff who wanted the rioters to leave the Capitol. When specifically asked by the committee if Trump wanted the rioters to go, Cipollone could not answer “yes” and, painfully, struggled to invoke executive privilege. Cassidy Hutchison said her boss Mark Meadows heard Trump say, “He thinks Mike deserves it, he doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong” about those who wanted to hurt Pence.
- Finally, at 4 p.m. Trump, reluctantly, recorded a video showering the rioters with love, perpetuating the lie about the stolen election, and asking them to go home. Outtakes shown by the committee showed that Trump stumbled to avoid saying the election was over, called the rioters “patriots,” and was careful not to accuse them of wrongdoing. By that point, Pence and congressional leaders–sans GOP leader Kevin McCarthy–were scrambling to take control of the situation. Trump was not part of those conversations, either.
So now everyone can be clear on what Trump did during those 187 minutes. He watched TV, he lobbied senators to delay the vote count, he put a target on Pence’s back, ignored pleas for help, sat around while other leaders organized plans, and then blew the rioters a kiss on their way out the door.Trump chose not to secure the peace. He, alone, chose violence. He was derelict. That’s pathetic, but it sure ain’t “nothing.”
Ethan Schmidt: Ass-Clown, Douchebag, Fuckmonkey
There was some sort of Cracker Jack Crazy event down in Florida this past weekend which took the GOP up to a new level of Crazy. If you were hungry for extremist rhetoric, the speakers served up a cornucopia of fascism and hate. An example: paraphrasing Matt Gaetz: the only women pushing for abortion rights are fat, and ugly, and will never get pregnant and so will never need one. The crowd cheered at his repugnancy. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed we are a Christian Nationalist nation, [[or maybe it was Nationalist Christian, not that it matters), and she, too was cheered. Outside the venue, there was at least one Nazi flag, and Confederate flags and Ronnie DeSantis said nothing, though there are a lot of comments on social media how, when he was speaking, he kept shifting his stance from one foot to the other. Maybe we should all begin calling him Shifty DeSantis.
Anyway, the fact that by way of their extremist rhetoric these speakers might in fact be encouraging violence is disturbing. Don't for a second think they care about this, they don't. America isn't being wowed by them, rather America is stepping back in disgust. These Crazies do not care. They don't understand that whatever happens will be on them, and history will not be kind to them.
.....and I am one of them.
But to be fair [[to me!), I didn't want him to run in the first place, thought the DNC did another shady work-around to give us the candidate THEY wanted, not the voters - and we were stuck with him in "now I fucking HAVE to vote for him" scenario.
That's twice in a row, DNC !!!
But let's face it, no matter who the GOP picks, Biden will not, and cannot, win in 2024. Your first 18 months as president gives you the most clout. He got zilch in that time frame. He won't get a do-over because the GOP picks Rick DeSantis. Read the headline again.
We have a president who has gotten almost nothing done. We are divided and Pappy Joe is not a uniter. I'm not sure there is one, but wearing dark aviators only get you so far.
All that said, I don't know how the DNC pulls this off. Pappy Joe is gonna have to say he only wanted one term, but then the party is going to have to kick Kamala to the curb too. Sorry folks, she's tainted goods with this administration and she's shown zero leadership too. I still see more of Mike Pence on a daily basis than I see of the sitting VP.
I don't know who can step up at this point and win. There is no one left from the old guard that the DNC and claim won the primaries and nomination. Bernie is too old. AOC is too volatile for the party.
All will be for naught if the GOP wins back the House and / or Senate. Technically we have those now and look where we are? JFC, I guess it's a good thing Merrick Garland didn't get the SCOTUS seat. He is a toothless watchdog as AG, sitting on his hands instead of really going after the insurrectionists or the BLOTUS family. I get it would be viewed as 'revenge' but t.s.. Laws were clearly broken. DO SOMETHING. ANYTHING.
Actually, that can be Pappy Joe's autobiography title. I'll even give it to him. Just get the fuck out of the White House.
If you care about children’s lives at all, this should make you run to the polls and vote for pro-gun control candidates.
Thing 45 says he has a plan to deal with the homeless: open up large parcels of inexpensive land in the outer reaches of the city and put them in high quality tents.
Concentration camps.
Oops, it appears Little Madison Cawthorn has no money to repay the supporters who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his reelection efforts even though he is required by law to refund the donations.
The campaign claims the money has already been spent … on trips to Chick-Fil-A, Papa’s Beer, high-end cigar shops, vacations in Florida and hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting and fundraising fees Cawthorn paid to his friend and campaign manager, Blake Harp.
No mention of the money Madison spent on women’s lingerie he likes to wear on his cruise vacations.
Pete Buttigieg, US transportation secretary, asking Republicans to support a law protecting same-sex marriage, and taking on anti-LGBTQ+, perhaps ALLEGEDLY gay himself, Marco Rubio:
“If he’s got time to fight against Disney, I don’t know why he wouldn’t have time to help safeguard marriages like mine. This is really, really important to a lot of people. It’s certainly important to me. I started my day, as I try to do on weekends, to get Chasten a little bit of a break and do breakfast with both of our twins. And listen, this no small thing as every parent of small kids knows. It was one of those days where the tray table wasn’t quite fitting into the highchair and I’m trying to make sure that they’re busy enough with their little cereal puffs to give me enough time to chop up the banana and get the formula ready. And … that half-hour of my morning had me thinking about how much I depend on and count on my spouse every day. And our marriage deserves to be treated equally. I don’t know why this will be hard for a senator or a congressman. I don’t understand how such a majority of House Republicans voted no on our marriage as recently as Tuesday, hours after I was talking about transportation policy, having what I thought were perfectly normal conversations with many of them on that subject, only for them to go around the corner and say that my marriage doesn’t deserve to continue. If they don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, they can vote yes and move on. And that would be really reassuring for a lot of families around America, including mine.”What you get from Pete, what you always get from Pete, is a good, honest, common-sense answer.
I love that about him.
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Hershel Walker, GOP illiterate tool running for Senate in Georgia, on why he won’t debate Raphael Warnock:
“Well, first of all, Senator Warnock has nothing else to talk about. He don’t want talk about the high gas prices, he don’t want to talk about high groceries. I’ve told him many times I’m ready debate him any time, any day. All he doin’ is talking. I just want to make it for the fans, not about a political party or some media, and all they are doing is talking. I want to make it a fair and equal debate for the people. I’m willing to cross the aisle and talk to him about who’s going to host this debate, not do it on his terms, but do it on the terms that the people can see the contrast between he and I, where I don’t want men in womens’ sports. I’m not gonna have that. I don’t wanna see high gas prices. I wanna see the crime stop. Those are things he voted for which he don’t want to admit, so he needs to answer to that because the Georgia people are talking. They want him to answer questions, not just hearing him to continue to talk to the media.”Herschel Walker, graduate of the Sarah Palin School of Word Salad Ignorance.
The only debate Walker wants to have is one that looks like Clint Eastwood’s old man chat with an empty chair; Google it.
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Joe Rogan, podcaster and “comedian,” taking on the GOP’s assaults on civil liberties, notably same-sex marriage:
"It's not just abortion rights, now they're going after gay marriage too, which is so strange to me, that people like Marco Rubio was saying that it was like a silly thing to argue about, to be concerned about … Gay marriage is not silly. It's marriage. It's marriage for people that are homosexual and for them it's important. They want to affirm their love and their relationship, and the fact that they're going after that now almost makes me feel like they want us to fight. They want to divide us in the best way they can and this is the best way for them to keep pulling off all the bullshit they're doing behind the scenes is to get us to fight over things like gay marriage … It's so homophobic because you're saying there's something wrong with being homosexual. By saying you are opposed to gay marriage, you're saying you're opposed to gay people. Because if gay people are in love with each other and they want to have a celebration and they want to be legally bonded and connected—and there's all sorts of benefits to that in terms of financial benefits, taxes—but not only that. If your loved one is in the hospital, you have access to them. And you're the only one who has access to them cause you're their spouse. You're the one who has power of attorney if they're incapacitated. There's a lot to affirming that relationship and the fact that they're going after that now, like, that's the kinda shit that keeps me from becoming a Republican."Wow, Joe Rogan actually sounding slightly sane for a change, though I take issue with the phrase ‘gay marriage.’ I don’t have a gay marriage; I have a marriage.
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Liz Cheney, GOP Representative and Chair of the J6 Committee, on her role in the hearings and her reelection bid in Wyoming:
“I am working hard here in Wyoming to earn every vote, but I will also say this: I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to say things that aren’t true about the election. My opponents are doing that, certainly, simply for the purpose of getting elected. If I have to choose between maintaining a seat in the House of Representatives or protecting the constitutional republic and ensuring the American people know the truth about [Thing 45], I’m going to choose the Constitution and the truth every single day. I’m fighting hard, no matter what happens on August 16th, I’m going to wake up on August 17th and continue to fight hard to ensure [Thing 45] is never anywhere close to the Oval Office ever again.”Again, I don’t like Liz Cheney’s politics, but I love Liz Cheney’s determination to stand up for this country when so many in her party goose-step behind a racist, rapist, homophobic, traitorous prick because they’re scared of losing their cushy jobs.
I will always stand with Liz on that point.
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I have to go on record, save some fat-assed golf shots, nekkid balloons and one golden calf/idol thingy, in the four years that BLOTUS ran this country into the ground, I don't think I ever posted a picture of him. That was 100% on principal.
It simultaneously pains me to do it now / and yet I feel the need that it must be done. Hopefully, other than his Lenin-like embalmed corpse for display, this will be the one and only time.
1. Matt "yeah, he's probably a self-loathing faggot" Drudge had to finally semi-concede that something might be rotten in Denmark. And he put it front and center of his website yesterday.
2. With. That. Pic.
Well kids, now you know why BLOTUS wears so much make-up and bronzer. He looks like your great aunt Matilda 38 years after a horrific face peel gone bad.
I'll give it to Homo-Drudge, image-wise, he did not try to sugarcoat the situation BLOTUS might be in.
That motherfucker Hannity is seemingly doubling down. His claims - almost 100 times between his tv and radio shows - that BLOTUS really was there to save the day and was calling in 10,000 National Guard troops. ............except that the DOD says that never happened. There was no such order from el Grande Cheeto.
Hannity should be somewhat worried, no? Alleged calls and texts between he and BLOTUS on January 6th. Cahoots you say? Maybe not you - but I do.
For what little I can stomach to read [[not Drudge, never him), things look bad for BLOTUS & Co. But we thought that with Mueller - and nothing. We thought that with two impeachments - and nothing.
I shan't be holding my breath.
Oh - and for you IT folks: all this bullshit about you can't really delete everything and there is always a way to recover thing? Talk to me about why any NSA person can't retrieve texts for a 48 hour period? The media's glossing over this is just astonishing. Because, that, I believe, will be the magic bullet to all of this.
Republicans Fist Bump Over Screwing Veterans Out Of Healthcare
The latest Trump grift? Burying Ivana at their golf club.
AUGUST 1, 2022 | TEXASTRAILERPARKTRASH
From The Washington Post, by Dana Milbank:
In his forced [[and, he hopes, temporary) retirement, defeated former president Donald Trump has come up with a new undertaking. He’s undertaking.
Technically, his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., is now acting as a “cemetery company.” [[Suggested slogan: “People are dying to get into Bedminster!”) And he has already landed his first occupant: He just buried his late ex-wife, Ivana Trump, right near the first tee.
Photos published by the New York Post on Sunday show a lone grave at the edge of a field with some yellowed grass around it, a clump of white flowers on the freshly turned earth and a flat stone marker with a less-than-effusive epitaph: “IVANA TRUMP, February 20, 1949 – July 14, 2022.” She died last month of an apparent fall.
The former president has shown little interest in conventional post-presidency pursuits, such as building a presidential library; he’s not much for reading, and he’s trying to hide his presidential papers, not display them. But why would he bury himself in, of all things, the interment trade?
Simple: He has seemingly turned his late ex-wife [[and his oldest kids have turned their late mother) into a tax dodge. Dartmouth professor Brooke Harrington, a specialist in tax optimization, checked the New Jersey tax code and reported that operating a cemetery at the Trump National offers “a trifecta of tax avoidance. Property, income & sales tax, all eliminated.” She tweeted that it “looks like one corpse will suffice to make at least 3 forms of tax vanish.”
This digs up an old issue for Trump. David A. Fahrenthold reported for The Post in 2017 that local officials had approved two burial grounds at Trump’s New Jersey club: the 10-plot one near the first hole where Ivana now rests and a 284-plot parcel for anybody who wants to buy “eternal membership in Trump’s club.” The proposals had gone through various iterations — up to 1,000 graves for the public one, and, for the private one [[which a Trump representative said would entomb “only the good Trumps,” including Trump himself), stone obelisks 19 feet high, along with a combined mausoleum and chapel that would double as a wedding venue.
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REPORT THIS ADIt wasn’t clear then how much a cemetery tax break on part of the property would help Trump because he had already avoided taxes by getting local authorities to declare the larger, wooded site a farm — on grounds that some trees there were turned into mulch.
But in his post-presidency, Trump has exhumed all manner of grift techniques. The Post reports that he used the presidential seal, apparently illegally, during last week’s Saudi-sponsored golf tournament at the Bedminster course. Trump has also milked his supporters for $121 million in campaign cash but, Republican operative Karl Rove complains, has not been using much of it to help GOP candidates.
Trump never loved cemeteries. As president, he famously skipped a visit to a U.S. military cemetery in France when it was raining [[he blamed the Secret Service), then skipped a Veterans Day visit to Arlington National Cemetery because he was “busy.” But now there’s money to be made [[or, at least, taxes not to be paid) in the burial business.
So, while the Trump family burial plot is waiting for other prospective occupants to qualify for residency [[the former president has wavered on his initial commitment to make Bedminster — his “favorite property” — his final resting place), perhaps Trump can come up with some mixed-use schemes for the site.
Its proximity to the first tee makes it an obvious spot for a practice green for putting and chipping. Or how about a cemetery-themed mini-golf course, in which paying customers putt their way over, around and through garish headstones and monuments?
Alternatively, the high-vacancy Trump cemetery could be used as a remembrance for those who are technically living but have had their careers and reputations buried by Trump. Michael Cohen? Michael Flynn? Mike Pence? House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy has been so undone by his desperate fealty to Trump that he now says he has been talking late at night to paintings hanging in his office.
Institutions buried by Trump could also get space in this Trump National Memorial Park. The FBI. The judiciary. The Republican Party. Free elections. Equal justice. The truth. And, in the center with an eternal flame, would be a simple stone marker as spare and unsentimental as Ivana’s:
Jon Stewart, comedian, former “Daily Show” host and activist, taking on Ted Cruz for voting No on the PACT bill, and the subsequent passing of the bill:
"I'm used to lies. I'm used to hypocrisy. I'm used to their cowardice. I'm not used to the cruelty [for a bill] … they had fought for, for more than a decade. The bill that Ted Cruz voted yes on had the exact same funding provisions as the bill he voted no on. It’s the exact same bill. None of this makes any sense. That is just a word salad that he's spewing into his coffee cup on his way to God knows where. All cowards. All of them … I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this situation where people who have already given so much had to fight so hard to get so little. I hope we learned a lesson.”The bill finally passed this week though these eleven Republicans voted ‘No’: Mitt Romney, Rand Paul, Mike Crapo, James Lankford, Mike Lee, Cynthia Lumis, James Risch, Richard Shelby, Pat Toomey, Tommy Turberville, Thom Tillis.
Note that Rafael Cruz voted ‘Yes’ this time though not one thing changed about the bill after he voted ‘No’ and then fist-bumped his fellow ReTHUGlicans.
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Whoopi Goldberg, on the passing of pioneering actor Nichelle Nichols who inspired her to appear in ‘Star Trek’:
“Nichelle Nichols was a trailblazer, a heroine, and an extraordinary woman—somebody who inspired millions and millions of people, but who inspired me because I explained when I went to get my gig at ‘Star Trek’ that Nichelle was the first Black person I’d ever seen who made it to the future. She was head of communications. And this show and this woman was the one beacon that said, ‘Yes, we’ll be there.’ And it just made me feel like that was an amazing thing. She helped propel other women to go into space. She was extraordinary and I was lucky enough to spend time with her over the years. She was my friend. She’ll be missed.”As in many cases, people of color stand on the shoulders of those who came before them, and help the next generation step up. Nichelle did that for Whoopi, and Whoopi paid it forward.
Rest in Power.
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Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe,’ on that stunning rejection by Kansas voters of an amendment that would have allowed state legislators to ban abortion:
“I think it’s an example a lot of people who identified themselves as pro-life looking at what happened since Roe was overturned. Looking at the extremism, looking at the 10-year-old girl being chased from the state, looking at the Texas attorney general fighting for the right to let mothers die on the operating table, to tear away the protections that the federal government is trying to put in place to protect moms to have a choice whether they die on an operating table or not. You look at all of the extremities, and now again in another Republican state legislature trying to give the right to members of a rapist’s family to sue a rape victim for $20,000 unless she has a forced pregnancy. This is a rapist’s bill of rights that Republicans are passing, a rapists’ bill of rights for forced childbirth on children.”The vote made Kansas one of the only red states where abortion remains legal after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. And it might just be the first because SCOTUS and the GOP’s rapidly increasing radicalism—Don’t Say Gay, don’t honor police officers, vote against healthcare for vets, ban books, attack drag queens—has pissed off a lot of people on both sides.
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Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, walking back his expectations about how many Senate seats are likely to flip in the midterm election:
“I think it’s going to be very tight. We have a 50-50 nation. And I think when this Senate race smoke clears, we’re likely to have a very, very close Senate still, with us up slightly or the Democrats up slightly.”I think Mitch maybe trying to play both sides. We do not have a 50-50 nation; there are more democrats than Republican and when we vote, we win. And the four years terrorist reign of Thing 45, coupled with this radical SCOTUS, and the GOP’s culture wars on everything that isn’t white and Christian and straight, has angered Democrats and Independents and women and the LGBTQ+ community.
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Mr. Jones
First off, I'm calling 'bullshit' on the headlines that are being made yesterday regarding the "accidentally" part. Bull. Shit.
Alex Jones' lawyers had to know they were representing massive pond scum. Perhaps - just perhaps - they didn't know it at first, but at some point you have to realize the money you might be getting from him might take down your firm and your reputation for good.
Hell, even Jones' company - that was taking in $800,000 a day {allegedly} filed for bankruptcy five days ago. There is no way in hell he was going to pay the Sandy Hook parents a dime, and I'm guessing his current lawyers are figuring they're getting as much as those parents
So, they pulled the trigger Or 'send' icon in Outlook along with two years worth of cellphone information.
Damning evidence all.
His claims if not having / using email were hard to defend when they had emails from him. His claims of searching his cellphone / texts regarding Sandy Hook came up with diddly squat [[is that one word?). Lies. All lies. His claims of Sandy Hook never happening went up in smoke too. Of course, now he's saying it 100% happened,
I'm not sure which lie is worse. The one to propagate a conspiracy theory [[and to what end?) or the lie to say he knows it happened when he either didn't [[he did!) or that he was making it all up for his own gain.
I love the defense lawyer's question to him: "You know what perjury is, right?". I keep seeing that in articles, but I never hear what the response was,
The defense also presented evidence that Jones is indeed not bankrupt.
Best yet on this defense lawyer? He's going to share his newfound evidence with the January 6th committee. Allegedly Jones was in cahoots with helping that planning or executing, or something. You gotta believe with two years worth of data - which now can probably be a premise for a warrant for additional cell data [[I mean, unless the Secret Service has it) .
I hope the Sandy Hook parents pick that man clean. I hope Jan 6th lands him in jail.
One woman's opinion of Dr. Oz. Notice the finger. He's sort of falling down in the polls.
Of course, the Senate voted yesterday on the Inflation Reduction Act. Filibuster proof. Republicans are pissed because the Democrats are doing something that doesn't include tax breaks to corporations and to the wealthy. They're terrified. The Roe v Wade decision put them on a very slippery slope. They're losing traction everywhere. Can't maintain their balance and keep falling down. A little over a week after Kansans voted against a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion, the Indiana legislator approved an extremely stringent anti-abortion bill because... These men are running down a hardwood staircase in their stocking feet.
And I saw that the alumni of Rhodes College in Tennessee have have sent a signed petition to college leadership asking that Amy Cony Boney's name be stricken from the Honor Roll. This is because Amy's "adherence to an originalist interpretive methodology of constitutional textual analysis appears to be at odds with the statements she made" during her Senate confirmation. In other words, she lied. She is one of the reasons the reputation of the Supreme Court has fallen so low in the court of public opinion,
And yesterday was a good day for Democracy. Major legislation was passed. The Republicans hate it. This bristles them down to the core of their gill slits, not that Republicans actually have gill slits... but then they just might. Isn't this what happens when a species gives up mouth breathing for bottom feeding?
Of course, the Republicans voted down a cap on insulin. They blamed it on a technicality. The cap couldn't be included with the regular package and so, rather than do something good for diabetic Americans, they offered them as a sacrifice to big Pharma. They prefer to have people suffer than give the Democrats anything that might be considered a win.
And finally... A Cracker Jack Crazy church in Dallas is in some serious legal trouble by not only performing an unauthorized performance of Hamilton, but they're also under fire making other changes in the script. For example, Hamilton is 'saved' and becomes a Christian before his death. They also did a number of other changes to the script making the show anti-LGBTQ. They also added a sermon at the end. Oh, and not surprisingly, most of the cast is white.
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