Guns & Hosers
Just a thought:
When it comes to Trump, maybe we should cut the guy some slack. He was raised by a terribly abusive political party within a terribly dysfunctional electoral system designed as a compromise to appease monsters dealing cotton.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is stirring an empty pot with this move, a letter dated Oct 24th.
In each case, the confidential source provided no evidence, just rumors. The FBI can’t pursue investigations when there’s no ‘there’ there. Grassley knows this.
But the best way to deal when your party is in thrall with a mobster like Trump and the news and his behaviors keep getting worse, the only counter is to keep trying to divert attention to non-existent crimes. They’ve been doing this for years, with the Clintons, Obama and now Biden.
As the courts keep asking ‘where’s the beef'?’ Grassley keeps offering Impossible burgers.
This doesn’t sound like a smart person. Via Jake Johnson at Salon:
The newly elected Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has previously proposed trillions of dollars in cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and suggested that slashing the programs should be the top priority of Congress.
During his tenure as chair of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) between 2019 and 2021, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) helped craft budget resolutions that called for roughly $2 trillion in Medicare cuts, $3 trillion in Medicaid and Affordable Care Act cuts, and $750 billion in Social Security Cuts, noted Bobby Kogan of the Center for American Progress
And:
Alex Lawson, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Social Security Works, said in a Wednesday statement following the speakership vote that the budget proposals released by the Johnson-led RSC also endorsed raising the Social Security retirement age, lowering annual cost-of-living benefit increases, and advancing privatization efforts.
"Multimillionaire Johnson has also made the outrageous claim that forced births are necessary to fund Social Security," said Lawson, referring to the Louisiana Republican's attempt to blame Roe v. Wade for depriving the U.S. of "able-bodied workers."
Lawson added that Johnson "recently joined the vast majority of House Republicans to vote for a commission designed to cut Social Security and Medicare behind closed doors."
We can only hope the Senate and White House speak loudly and carry bigger sticks. Voting these House bums out is our best option for the long term.
Via Summer Concepcion at NBC News:
A Colorado judge on Wednesday denied the latest attempt by former President Donald Trump to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to remove him from the state’s 2024 ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
The decision comes just days before a trial on Trump’s eligibility for the ballot is expected to begin.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of six voters in Denver district court last month, says Trump should be disqualified from running in future elections under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which states no person shall hold any office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” after having taken an oath to support the Constitution. It argues that Trump violated his oath as president through his connection to the Capitol attack.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and several law firms filed the lawsuit on behalf of the six voters — four Republicans and two unaffiliated.
Should the Colorado voters succeed in their Constitutional argument, expect other states to follow suit. If he’s found culpable for provoking the insurrection, numerous states are likely to see similar citizen lawsuits that could take Trump out of the election completely. And having never won a popular vote for anything in his life, he may keep on setting new records for the longest losing streak in US court history.
Recommended reads
Amanda Marcotte at Salon provides more background on two of the lawyers currently or soon to be testifying against Donald Trump. It turns out, for example, that Jenna Ellis had a very thin resume prior to her tag team with Giuliani.
And then with the shocking mass shooting in Lewiston Maine, the gunman’s family has added more to the picture:
The family of Robert Card—who is suspected of killing 18 people in two mass shootings in Maine on Wednesday night—say the Army reservist had previously claimed he was hearing voices at the two locations he allegedly attacked.
In the aftermath of the carnage, Katie Card, who is married to Card’s brother, told The Daily Beast that their family has been messaging her brother-in-law and urging him to surrender to authorities.
“I have known Rob my whole life,” Card said on Thursday. “He is quiet but the most loving, hardworking, and kind person that I know. But in the past year, he had an acute episode of mental health, and it’s been a struggle.”
She said that Robert Card recently began wearing powerful hearing aids to combat hearing loss. Since then, Card said her brother-in-law has been insisting to his family that he can hear people bashing him—including at Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grill, where he’s accused of gunning down 18 people on Wednesday night.
“He truly believed he was hearing people say things,” she added. “This all just happened within the last few months.”
But former co-workers paint a different picture of Card… and his family.
My heart goes out to the families and friends of the 18 now confirmed deceased and to the 13 people (so far) injured during Card’s killing spree. It’s long past time that semi-automatics are banned nationally again. It worked very well when President Clinton did it.