When The Cult Turns On Its Golden Calf

 

In recent appearances, the Malignant Loser has been belatedly touting vaccinations to fight the COVID pandemic -- we'll give him credit, as does the White House, and a round of golf claps for that.  As expected, though, it caused some of his most ardent cultists to recoil in horror:

As the president’s new, unabashed booster endorsement rippled out across right-wing social media, it was met with an combustible mix of anger, confusion, contorted excuses, and denial so pure it’s as if the former president had never uttered a word.

For a sign of just how severely Trump wrong-footed himself with his base by endorsing boosters, look no further than the editorial cartoonist Ben Garrison. The doodler’s devotion to the 45th president has been slavish, but Garrison’s opposition to the vaccine has also been stalwart. His latest cartoon opus shows Trump riding aboard on the “Big Pharma Vaccine Bandwagon” as he’s booed by the MAGA-hatted masses.

Here's the Garrison cartoon:

There's more spittle-flecked anti- vaccine lunacy at the link, but this summarizes it pretty well:

While MAGA and anti-vax leaders tried to excuse, dismiss or ignore the former president’s booster boosting, some in the rank-and-file of the far-right movement weren’t ready to forgive and forget, instead training their fire directly at the 45th president.

A message posted to a popular Telegram channel dedicated to “controversial media” and “uncensored views” read: “How quickly ‘Trumpers’ and liberal-conservatives forget that this entire COVID debacle, including vaccines and mass vaccination, was initiated and promoted under Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s watch.”

The post continued by arguing that Trump and the GOP don’t occupy the “moral high ground” on Covid and should not be trusted anymore than Biden and the Democrats: “Democrats are corrupt. Republicans are corrupt,” the post reads. “If you’re still on that merry-go-round then time to wake up and join us over here where TRUTH and FREEDOM is prioritised[sic] over party politics.”

They may prioritize "TRUTH" and "FREEDOM" in their own benighted mis-understanding of the concepts, but certainly not science, common sense and self- preservation.

Overturning Roe

 

Looking no further than the op/ ed pages of the Washington Post, there's plenty of commentary about the conduct of the Republican Supreme Court (RSCOTUS) during oral arguments in the anti- abortion case of Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization.  Here are a few snippets.

The Editorial Board

The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in an abortion case that could mark a perilous turning point for American society. Judging by the justices’ tone, the question is not whether they will eviscerate the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and the subsequent Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling in 1992 but how drastically they will curtail these core precedents. The justices should have no illusions: A partial or total reversal of Roe would devastate not only the Americans who rely on the abortion rights that have been theirs for nearly 50 years, but also the court itself, undermining its legitimacy.  [snip]

The other shift since Roe has been the makeup of the court, reshaped after the addition of several conservative justices due to a mixture of underhanded politics and pure happenstance. The court’s authority derives not from its ability to enforce its declarations — it lacks any such power — but from the fact that Americans respect its decisions. Those decisions must reflect something greater than mere whim or raw political power in the Senate. The court should overturn precedent only in exceptional circumstances. The justices must exercise particular care in the case of Roe, because the court previously reviewed and reaffirmed it in Casey, reinforcing its status as the law of the land. In such a circumstance, the court should reverse only decisions that have proved, with the wisdom of hindsight, to be wildly bad. That is not the case with Roe or Casey.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh on Wednesday cited landmark cases such as Brown v. Board of Education, which overturned previous court holdings, to argue that the court sometimes makes its most important decisions when it breaks with past rulings. The justices should take no comfort in this strained comparison. If the court substantially reverses or strikes Roe, Americans will not remember it as a moment of overdue progress but as an undue contraction of Americans’ constitutional rights that does deep and immediate harm to millions. That would indeed be a bleak day for the court.

Dana Milbank

The six Republican-appointed justices on the Supreme Court left no doubt in oral argument Wednesday that they would end the constitutional right to abortion that American women have had for nearly half a century. The court will either overturn Roe v. Wade outright or cripple the landmark ruling by eliminating the “fetal viability” standard at its core. Both would return us to a time before most people living ever knew, when state legislatures controlled women’s reproductive decisions.

Public opinion hasn’t changed. The science hasn’t fundamentally changed. No new legal theory has been promulgated. The only difference is the court now has a majority hellbent on settling scores in the culture wars. “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked her colleagues. “I don’t see how it is possible.”

There’s good reason, Justice Elena Kagan said, why the Supreme Court has given great weight to precedent — and particularly to “super precedent” such as the 1973 Roe decision, affirmed by the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision. It’s “to prevent people from thinking that this court is a political institution that will go back and forth depending on what part of the public yells the loudest.”

E.J. Dionne, Jr

On Tuesday, four high school students — ages 14, 16 and 17 — were fatally shot in Oxford, Mich., by a 15-year-old classmate firing a 9mm pistol with 15-round magazines.

Less than 24 hours later, a Supreme Court majority that seems on the verge of weakening the nation’s gun laws heard arguments in a case that could lead to tougher restrictions on abortion. [snip]

Here’s what we’re facing: conservative jurists ready to expand states’ rights when it comes to limiting or banning abortion but equally prepared to block states from enacting gun laws aimed at protecting the right of their people to live beyond their teenage years.

There will be hell to pay when the decision comes down next year.  Remember what party put these troglodytes on the Court and act accordingly.

Gosar Censure Vote Today

A small, but well- deserved action holding one of the worst psychos in the House Republican Nut Caucus responsible for his vileness:

The House plans to vote Wednesday on a resolution that would both censure Republican Congressman Paul Gosar and remove him from his committee assignments. 

Gosar last week posted on Twitter an edited anime video that depicted him attacking President Biden and apparently killing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He later deleted the tweet and issued a statement saying he doesn't condone violence.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that the disciplinary plan was necessary because Gosar made threats about harming a member of Congress.

"That is in itself not only an endangerment of that member of congress but an insult to the House of Representatives," Pelosi said.

Gosar serves on the House Oversight and Reform Committee with Ocasio-Cortez. The resolution would remove him from that committee and the House Committee on Natural Resources. Congressional committees are where the language of bills are hashed out — and they can give lawmakers the power to shape laws and influence policy.

Earlier today, the House Rules Committee passed the resolution to censure Gosar and remove him from his seat on the two committees he serves on by a 9-4 vote, with (spoiler alert!) no Republican voting in favor.

As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said, he'd be expelled "in a perfect world."  Now, he can roam the halls of Congress with fellow psycho Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Seditionist-GA), who was removed from her committee assignments in February but not censured for her bizarre and violent statements.

 

Trump's Fascists Coming Back To DC

 

 

Washington, DC, and specifically the Capitol, is gearing up for the return of the malignant loser's fascist loser followers on September 18.  Here's what's being reported about preparations stemming from a Capitol Police assessment:

The intelligence assessment, dated Sept. 7, notes that in recent days, the department and partner agencies have found more violent online talk surrounding the #JusticeForJ6 rally, organized by Look Ahead America. The event seeks to support pro-Trump rioters who were jailed for their roles in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

A discussion thread on the far-right site 4chan includes calls to “do justice” against “local jews and corrupted officials.” It also says the demonstration should be used as a vehicle to participate in violent acts against local “Jewish centers and Liberal churches” while law enforcement is distracted.

Another comment from the thread reads, “I will be there with my AR15 even though legally I can’t have one f*** the Demonrats.” (ed. note: asterisks inserted by CQ Roll Call)

Look Ahead America, a group led by former Trump campaign employee Matt Braynard, asked for a permit in Union Square at noon on Sept. 18 for 700 participants, a number that has risen from 500. [snip]

The Capitol Police assessment references the [Justice for January 6] Twitter account, which posted an apparent depiction of Babbitt draped in a “Kekistan” flag with a Kek logo halo in the background. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Kek as a “tribal marker of the alt-right.”

The department’s intelligence memo notes that the image’s symbolism “appears to suggest that adherents to the far-right ideology view Babbitt as a martyr for their cause and it may be possible that these individuals are more inclined to attend events that appear to be memorializing her or the January 6th insurrection.”

The J4J6Campaign Twitter account uses a design similar to the Blood Drop Cross, a symbol the department notes is used by the Ku Klux Klan. The account also has a “faint stylized version of the Celtic Cross which is commonly used by neo-Nazis and white supremacist extremists,” according to the assessment.

The document makes note of some interest shown in the event by far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys and White Lives Matter. 

The white supremacist, anti-Semitic sub-morons *shouldn't* be catching local authorities by surprise like they did on January 6, but it's always possible the fascists have developed new tactics that will require quick and effective responses by those authorities.  (A counter demonstration is also planned, which should increase the chance that violence will break out.)  It will be revealing to see how police handle any violent or provocative acts by the fascists this time around, after the insurrection of January 6 showed that the mob was only interested in "backing the blue" as long as it meant keeping minorities and "the left" in their place.

(Photo: Fascist MAGAts at "Unite the Right" rally in Washington, DC, on August 12, 2018/ Jim Lo Scalza/EPA)

January 6 Committee Wants Telecom Records

 

In a move that's certain to eventually reveal more of the maneuverings and the conspiracy behind the January 6 seditionist Trumpist insurrection at the Capitol, the House committee investigating the event is reportedly about to formally ask several telecommunications companies to preserve the phone records of several Trumpist Members of Congress and of the former guy and his corrupt family. CNN is reporting:

"The records request is the first step in the committee's investigatory process and could signal the direction they plan to go when they call witnesses.

It is unclear what means the committee will use to compel the telecommunications companies to cooperate with their request. The committee does have subpoena power, but requesting the information -- especially from members of Congress -- could lead to a lengthy legal battle.

The committee decided against making public the names of the lawmakers whose records they are targeting, three sources told CNN. But multiple sources familiar with the committee's work have confirmed for CNN at least part of list including many of the members of Congress included in the request. [snip]

The list is said to be evolving and could be added to as the investigation steps up. As of now it includes Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Paul Gosar also of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Jody Hice of Georgia and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania."

The reported list contains some of the very worst, most dangerous seditionists in Congress. Notably missing is pathological liar and perpetual hack Rep. Kevin "Qevin" McCarthy (Sedition-CA) who reportedly told his Dear Leader to call off the attack on the Capitol while it was in progress. January 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) has indicated that the telecom records of dozens of individuals involved in the so-called "Stop The Steal" rally and its planning will be pursued (e.g., Roger Stone, Proud Boy and Oath Keeper leaders, etc.).

Several days ago, the January 6 committee asked eight Federal agencies for any records pertaining to the attack, requesting "communications within and among the White House and Executive Branch agencies during the leadup to January 6th and on that day,” including the Pentagon and FBI.

 

Right-Wing Nut Arrested After Capitol Hill Bomb Threat

 

 

Doubtless sparked by the constant incendiary lies coming from Republican seditionists and right- wing media, Capitol Hill experienced a frightening bomb threat today:

The bomb threat suspect taken into custody by US Capitol Police posted several Facebook videos earlier today in which he appeared to be holding an explosive device inside his truck.

The suspect has been identified as 49-year-old Floyd Ray Roseberry.

In the videos, Roseberry repeatedly refers to President Biden, calls for him to step down and urges “Joe” to come talk to him. In the long ramblings, Roseberry also expresses frustration about the situation in Afghanistan.

On his Facebook page, which has since been taken down, Roseberry frequently made pro-Trump posts and posted videos from former President Donald Trump’s "Million MAGA March" on Nov. 14. 

In the videos posted today, Roseberry calls himself a “patriot.” He says he doesn’t care if Trump ever becomes president again but also that he thinks “all Democrats need to step down.”

Congress luckily was not in session this week, but there were thousands of people in both Congressional office buildings and other properties nearby that had to be evacuated from the area.

The WaPo adds some reporting on Roseberry's rants during the standoff:

“You don’t want to do it, Joe,” he said. “There are five of us here ... The revolution is on, it’s here, it’s today.”

The bomb, he said, was built by someone with military experience who had lost two legs. He claimed to be apolitical, but he aired disgust with Democrats for the withdrawal from Afghanistan and suggested Biden was not democratically elected. He also urged for airstrikes on Afghanistan to push out the Taliban.

He said “this isn’t about politics” and that he doesn’t “care if Donald Trump becomes president again.” He said all the Democrats in the Senate "should step down because the people don’t want you there.”

“Democrats, you’re killing America,” he said at one point. “You’re making people want to leave America. This is supposed to be a place people want to come."

So, let's get to the bottom of how and by whom Roseberry was radicalized.  Let's also not assume this is the last time a deluded believer in the "Big Lie," and who has been motivated by the drumbeat of criticism of Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal and every grievance stoked by Republican seditionists and right- wing media since Democrats took control of the Federal government, is going to act out -- perhaps next time in a truly violent way.

(Image:  Roseberry in his truck outside the Library of Congress/ via Sydney Bobb)

 

The Republican Answer To Every Problem

The problem:

At present, Utah is the most drought-stricken state in the nation. Upward of 62 percent of the state is engulfed in “exceptional drought,” the most severe category. The federal government’s U.S. Drought Monitor reports that irrigation water allotments are being cut and that fire restrictions are being tightened. Last year, Utah and Colorado experienced significant wildfire activity.

The ground in Utah is parched, with soil moisture deficits running upward of five inches in places. Salt Lake City could hit 100 degrees on Friday afternoon, a record. An excessive-heat warning is in effect for the city, and areas south and west are under red flag warnings for extreme fire danger. [snip]

According to Glen Merrill, the hydrologist at the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, roughly 95 percent of the state’s water comes from melting snowpack in the higher elevations. He explained that reduced snow cover produced less meltwater, which was quickly absorbed by parched soils.

“It didn’t make it into the channels and streams,” Merrill said. “The forecast for [stream] volume through July is about 25 to 40 percent of normal.”

Merrill said the drought came on quickly in 2019 and intensified last summer, spreading south to north and engulfing the state.

“[The drought] even spread all the way into the beginning of our cool season [in 2020],” he said. “It’s rare to see that. Right now, 100 percent of the state is in some sort of drought.”

Looking ahead, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is predicting that unusually hot and dry conditions will persist through the summer. Utah is just entering the peak of its driest period of the year, which lasts into July.

The bigger problem (or, "the Republican answer to every problem"):

“I fear [existing] efforts alone won’t be enough to protect us,” [Utah Republican Gov. Spencer] Cox said in a video statement posted to Twitter. “We need more rain, and we need it now. … It’s why I’m asking Utahns of all faiths to join me in a weekend of prayer.”

So, added to praying away gun violence, praying away the gay, and praying for the "reinstatement" of Jeebus Trump on a celestial cloud, praying for rain is now part of the Republican playbook for addressing climate change.  While you're at it, don't forget to pray away the wildfires that are coming!

Conclusion: These people are perfectly normal, and we can totes "bipartisan" with them!

(Photo: "A houseboat on Lake Powell, seen on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, highlights the 140-foot difference between today's lake level and the lake's high-water mark."/ Rick Egan/ The Salt Lake Tribune)

Arizona Warned By DOJ About Apparent "Audit" Illegalities

 

Excerpt of a May 5 letter from Pamela S. Karlan, DOJ Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney, Civil Rights Division, to Arizona Republican State Senate Leader Karen Fann:

The Department has reviewed available information, including news reports and  complaints regarding the procedures being used for this audit. The information of  which we are aware raises concerns regarding at least two issues of potential non compliance with federal laws enforced by the Department.  

The first issue relates to a number of reports suggesting that the ballots, elections  systems, and election materials that are the subject of the Maricopa County audit are no  longer under the ultimate control of state and local elections officials, are not being  adequately safeguarded by contractors at an insecure facility, and are at risk of being  lost, stolen, altered, compromised or destroyed... [snip]

The second issue relates to the Cyber Ninjas’ statement of work for this audit.3  Among other things, the statement of work indicates that the contractor has been  working “with a number of individuals” to “identify voter registrations that did not  make sense, and then knock on doors to confirm if valid voters actually lived at the  stated address.” [snip] This description of the proposed work of  the audit raises concerns regarding potential intimidation of voters... [snip]

Past experience with similar investigative efforts around the country  has raised concerns that they can be directed at minority voters, which potentially can  implicate the anti-intimidation prohibitions of the Voting Rights Act. Such investigative  efforts can have a significant intimidating effect on qualified voters that can deter them  from seeking to vote in the future.   

            We would appreciate your response to the concerns described herein, including  advising us of the steps that the Arizona Senate will take to ensure that violations of  federal law do not occur.  

 

The Trumpist election usurpers are on notice, and the Biden Department of Justice isn't playing games.

The Anything-But-An-Audit In Arizona

 

 

The Arizona GQP Senate's "audit" of the ballots from Maricopa County, the state's largest jurisdiction, is proceeding in secret, as befits a conspiracy- driven effort.  The GQP senators and the state's GQP chair, certifiable nut Kelli "Low-IQAnon" Ward, has made sure fellow crackpots are in charge of the ballot counting/disenfranchising:

The private companies hired by Arizona Senate Republicans to recount millions of ballots from the 2020 election are concerned about possible Antifa attacks and planned to use UV lights to hunt for fraud, internal documents released as part of a legal battle with Democrats revealed.  [snip]

The documents offer a detailed look at the conspiratorial thinking behind an extraordinary partisan hunt for fraud some six months after former President Donald Trump lost the election and began pushing the lie that it was stolen from him.

“It would be comical if it weren't so scary,” Rick Hasen, an election law expert and a professor at the University of California, Irvine, said of the audit.

The CEO of Cyber Ninjas, the group hired to count/disenfranchise ballots, is a Trump nut named Doug Logan:

Cyber Ninja's CEO, Doug Logan, reportedly advanced 2020 conspiracy theories online, and refuses to say how much money he will make on this audit. The audit is funded with $150,000 in taxpayer dollars, as well as an undisclosed number of private donations whose names are still shrouded in secrecy.

Logan and Ken Bennett, a former Republican secretary of state of Arizona who is overseeing the audit at the request of the GOP-controlled state Senate, sparred with reporters over how much the effort would cost in a contentious news conference last week.

What kind of crackpot effort is underway you didn't ask?  Here's one example of the standards:

Media access to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum arena where the count is taking place was initially limited unless reporters agreed to be volunteer observers. When one reporter from The Arizona Republic did so, she noticed that proper procedures for handling ballots were not being followed after she spotted blue pens near ballots. Election officials say red or green pens are used to ensure that ink does not spoil or change a vote, because ballot-counting machines can read blue or black ink.

One America News Network, a right-wing cable channel, has been given special access to cover the audit and reported that audit workers were using ultra-violet light to search for watermarks — a possible reference to a thoroughly debunked QAnon conspiracy that Trump secretly watermarked ballots to prove voter fraud.

“It's a bunch of bull!” Hobbs said of the alleged watermarks. “They're making stuff up."

That's what Republicans do, right?  Make stuff up.  

In the meantime, the Department of Justice has been asked to send monitors to document the shitshow:

Election security specialists with high-powered policy groups are calling for federal monitors to oversee the Arizona Senate's hand recount of 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County.

Citing violations of voting and election laws, representatives of the Brennan Center for Justice, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Protect Democracy urged the Department of Justice to protect ballots and prevent voter intimidation.

"Ballots that are protected under federal law are in imminent danger of being stolen, defaced, or irretrievably damaged, and Arizona citizens are in imminent danger of being subject to unlawful voter intimidation,"  the four security specialists wrote in the April 29 letter. [snip]

"We believe that the Senate and its agents ... are violating their duty under federal law to retain and preserve ballots cast in a federal election," the specialists wrote. "They also risk compromising the integrity of the ballots themselves, using materials and technologies that will cause the ballot paper and marks to deteriorate."

The aforementioned GQP chair, exercising authority only existing in her fevered brain, orders the federal government to stay away from Arizona:

Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward lashed out at the request Friday on YouTube, saying it was a Democratic Party-led effort to derail the audit and wrest control of the election from state officials.

"Arizona is off limits to the federal government trampling on our constitutional rights and our sovereignty," Ward said. "When it comes to managing our own election, we believe in the U.S. Constitution."

Ward, who has promoted baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against former president Donald Trump, has championed the audit as a way to ensure election integrity in Arizona.

We're absolutely certain that will scare the feds away, Kelli, you lump.

The letter to the DOJ referenced above contains this warning that the GQP and their tinfoil hat canvassers would do well to heed:

We are very concerned that the auditors are engaged in ongoing and imminent violations of federal voting and election laws. Specifically, we believe that the senate and its agents, including Cyber Ninjas, are 1) violating their duty under federal law to retain and preserve ballots cast in a federal election, which are and have been in danger of being stolen, defaced, or irretrievably damaged, and 2) preparing to engage in conduct which will constitute unlawful voter intimidation in violation of the Voting Rights Act and other federal laws.

Should these cranks, in furtherance of the Big Lie, engage in any of the activities noted above (and it appears from reports they may have already), the full weight of the federal judicial system should come down on their tinfoil- covered heads.

(Photo:  Of course, one of the ballot "auditors" is former state Rep. Anthony Kern, who was at the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.  Seems legit.)

"They Tried To Kill Our Democracy" (UPDATED)

Let's make sure all of these cowardly, un- American thugs never live this down:

"You will never be able to walk away from this."

CNN's @DonLemon reacts to the Supreme Court rejecting Texas and Pres. Trump's bid to overturn the election and discusses the more than 100 House Republicans who backed the lawsuit. https://t.co/0UxuAArsg4 pic.twitter.com/wws2qLeL68

— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) December 12, 2020

 

Here's the list of shame.

Also --

None of the people who supported that document—not a one—can ever again honestly claim to believe in freedom, democracy, individual rights, or constitutional government. All they believe in is their own divine right to rule, no matter what the people say.

— Adam Serwer 🍝 (@AdamSerwer) December 11, 2020

 

Never forget that the majority of Republicans sought to overthrow the results of a presidential election and install their unelected candidate, the majority of their supporters approved, and their sniveling apparatchiks concocted post hoc rationalizations justifying it.

— Adam Serwer 🍝 (@AdamSerwer) December 11, 2020

 

“Right now, the most serious attempt to overthrow our democracy in the history of our of country is underway.

Those who are pushing to make Donald Trump President, no matter the outcome of the election, are engaged in a treachery against their nation.” pic.twitter.com/FE7K91nlSD

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 11, 2020

 

UPDATE:  Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) has a response to the actions of the seditious House Republicans.

Vids Of The Day

 

Mango Mussolini's pardon- curious consigliere Rudy "Hands in Pants" Giuliani took his traveling cuckoo coup circus to Michigan yesterday to try to bully the Michigan House Oversight Committee into disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in order to award the state's electoral votes to his pardon master.  Judging from his star witness, and the questioning from at least one Republican representative, it didn't go so well (note how Rudy tries to control his own crackpot witness, starting at 0.33 sec.):

 

a drunk woman is trump team’s star witness in michigan pic.twitter.com/qGxEI3hp2G

— marisa kabas (@MarisaKabas) December 3, 2020

 

Another witness Rudy shook from the nut tree offered her completely non- racist views on voter i.d.:

One of Rudy’s witnesses just said she thinks “all Chinese look alike” while arguing for Voter ID pic.twitter.com/3gdZFmFMwW

— Icculus The Brave (@FirenzeMike) December 3, 2020

 

These representative members of the Republican base seem to confirm some part of the description offered the other day of a party of "right wing religious wack jobs, you’re not the boss of me libertarians, new gilded age aspiring plutocrats, proud boy white supremacists, raging misogynist incels, and general free range sociopaths."  Proud to be a Democrat.

BONUS:  And, scene --

Hearing is wrapped up and Rudy is surrounded by people who seem to have come to the hearing straight from deer camp.

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) December 3, 2020

 

Another Pennsylvania Coup Attempt Goes Down In Flames

They are who they are:

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has dismissed the lawsuit from Congressman Mike Kelly and congressional candidate Sean Parnell to declare universal mail-in voting unconstitutional in the state and deny the votes of the majority of Pennsylvanians who voted by mail in the Nov. 3 election.

The state Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, threw out the three-day-old order, saying the underlying lawsuit was filed months after the law allowed for challenges to Pennsylvania’s expansive year-old mail-in voting law.

The state’s attorney general, Democrat Josh Shapiro, called the court’s decision “another win for Democracy.”

The week-old lawsuit, led by U.S. Rep. Kelly of Butler, had challenged the state’s mail-in voting law as unconstitutional.

As a remedy, Kelly and the other Republican plaintiffs had sought to either throw out the 2.5 million mail-in ballots submitted under the law — most of them by Democrats — or to wipe out the election results and direct the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature to pick Pennsylvania’s presidential electors.  (our emphasis)

That's the un- American, anti- democracy, racist Republican Party operating in plain sight right there.