Right- Wing Book Banner Caught Shoplifting

 

 

Guess this book- banning "Moms for Liberty"- backed Tennessee school board member believed in "liberating" merchandise, too:

A right-wing Tennessee school board member backed by the Moms for Liberty group has been arrested on shoplifting charges.

Keri Blair, who was elected in November 2022 following a campaign against tolerant "social agendas," is accused of stealing items from Target seven times between Nov. 25 and Dec. 20, reported WATN-TV.

The 43-year-old Blair was booked Jan. 5 and charged with theft of property less than $1,000, and she was released on $7,500 bond.

Police say Blair stole nearly $730 worth of merchandise by "skip-scanning" items at the store's self checkout.

She resigned Wednesday from the Collierville school board, citing "family reasons."

Shelby County school board races are nonpartisan, but Blair received contributions to her mostly self-financed campaign from Patricia Woodard, the treasurer of the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, and mirrored that far-right group's complaints about educational materials that did not reflect a conservative social agenda.

"Conservative social agenda" = intolerance = white nationalism = "My Christofascist cult leader is a lawless crook, so what's wrong with a little shoplifting?!" = ergo, innocent!

Not the biggest or most surprising story in the news today by far, but perhaps broadly revealing in its own small- bore way.

(Photo:  morally upright Keri Blair's mugshot / Collierville Police Department)

Republican Crime Blotter: Police Investigating Ziegler

Florida's Republican Chairman and adulterous party boy Christian Ziegler may have thought his scandalous behavior with his Christofascist book banning wife Bridget and another female would go away if he rode it out. It appears now that in addition to he and his wife violating their supposed religious beliefs, he may have broken the law when he secretly videotaped his encounter with the female who says he raped her. Sarasota, FL, authorities are investigating: 

"Sarasota authorities are expanding their investigation into Florida Republican Chair Christian Ziegler to probe whether he broke any laws when he allegedly recorded a sexual encounter with a woman accusing him of rape, according to a search warrant affidavit. [snip]

The new revelation adds to the mounting problems for Ziegler, who has insisted that the Oct. 2 sexual encounter was consensual and has refused to step down from his role with the GOP despite Gov. Ron DeSantis and other top Florida Republicans urging him to resign. The party’s executive board members stripped Ziegler of his power and salary during a meeting in Orlando on Dec. 17.

Ziegler’s wife Bridget Ziegler, who co-founded the conservative parents group Moms for Liberty, has also faced accusations of hypocrisy in part because she told police during the probe that she had a consensual sexual encounter with the victim and her husband about a year ago. Bridget Ziegler has pushed traditional family values and was an outspoken supporter of Florida’s law that bans teachers from instructing students on sexual orientation and gender identity, known by opponents as 'Don’t Say Gay.'”  (our emphasis)

The videotape should corroborate the victim's story about Ziegler forcing himself on her. He's quite the misogynist thug, and a moron at that for taping his alleged crime. He'll go far in Republican politics. 

 

Nikki Haley: Against Trump Before She Was For Him

If there's an emptier suit who continues to impress the media it's featherweight former governor/UN ambassador (!) and alleged adulterer (alleged!) Nikki Haley.  Here's a then/ now example of her willingness to abandon the pretense of having "principles" in order to lick the boots of a certain malignant loser:

Before: “We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.” (Politico)

“I think he’s going to find himself further and further isolated. … I don’t think he’s going to be in the picture. I don’t think he can. He’s fallen so far.” (Politico)

After: “He has the ability to move the ball, and I hope that he continues to do that. We need him in the Republican Party. I don’t want us to go back to the days before Trump.” (Wall Street Journal)

 

When she's not angling for a résumé- padding job feeding in the public trough, the human weathervane has attempted to find the political sweet spot on Trump and Trumpism for years without doing much except showing herself to be shallow and unprincipled.

Now there's some strong presidential timber for ya!

Hypocrites And Cheats

 

What kind of people do you find in conservative/ Republican world?  (Spoiler alert: Hypocrites and cheats.)

Here's your cheat, Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn "Hedge Fund" Youngkin:

GOP gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin and his wife last year successfully petitioned Fairfax County to designate their horse farm as an agricultural district, which led to a 95% reduction in the taxes they pay on the 31.5-acre property in Great Falls that surrounds their home.

The agricultural district reduced the Youngkins’ real estate tax bill on the farm by a total of $151,844.90 in 2020 and 2021 combined, according to public information that the Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration provided to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Blue Virginia notes,

As you read the Richmond Times-Dispatch story, Youngkins received 95% tax cut due to conservation status of their horse farm, keep in mind that the Youngkins are worth something like $300 million, so obviously they didn’t need the $150k+ tax break from Fairfax County to “preserve” their horse farm (note: it’s crazy that Fairfax County actually *granted* this tax break; what on earth?).  [snip]

To put this in perspective, $150k is just 0.05% of $300 million. If you’re worth $2 million, the equivalent would be a tax break of just $1,000. Or if you’re worth $200,000, the equivalent would be a tax break of just $100.  Anyway, the point is, the Youngkins certainly didn’t need the tax break, let alone in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when presumably Fairfax County had a lot more important things to be dealing with. The fact that the Youngkins thought it was very important to milk the county for this tax break (aka, “dodge property taxes,” as Terry McAuliffe puts it) really shows where their priorities are…

Youngkin was recently caught telling a supporter that he can't talk about his radical abortion position because it would hurt him among voters, so he's really a twofer -- a hypocrite and a cheat.

Here's your hypocrite, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill:

Joe Biden has long been open about his Catholic faith. The president regularly attends Sunday mass and credits his faith with helping him get through the worst times in his life.

Like Biden, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi is also a faithful Catholic. She angrily attacked Donald Trump last year when he questioned her faith.

Recently, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to approve a document concerning the sacrament of communion. The measure would prevent politicians like Biden and Pelosi, who have voted to allow abortion rights from receiving the holy sacrament.

The General Secretary of the USCCB, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill read the voting results to the conference back in June. Burrill has now resigned from his position after cell phone data revealed that he used the gay dating app Grindr and regularly visits gay bars.

Burrill's sexuality is not the issue here.  His hypocrisy in participating in a corrupted, Republican- wired effort to smear and undercut President Biden and other practicing Catholic Democrats for their pro- choice views while he himself was simultaneously violating Church "moral standards" very much is the issue. Meanwhile, Burrill's superior, Archbishop José Gomez, deemed Burrill's actions as alleged "misconduct" and "possible improper behavior" which, in the rotten (not to mention hypocritical) world of Catholic hierarchy sexuality dogma, apparently counts for a moral position, as opposed to a political culture one. 

Good Parent Ted Cruz's Cancun Holiday

 

Jimmy Kimmel uses sociopathic snowbird Sen. Ted "Coup" Cruz (Hypocrite-Cancun) as a piñata for most of his monologue, and it's wonderful.

 

BONUS: Ted Coup not only abandoned the citizens of Texas, he left the family poodle Snowflake in their cold, darkened home in Houston, supposedly cared for by a security guard. Guess his daughters made him do it.

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

The country is full of sanctimonious, racist hypocrites, and white evangelical "Christians" in America represent perhaps the biggest, grievance- driven part of that ugly cohort.  Dana Milbank:

White evangelicals are only 15 percent of the population, but their share of the electorate was 28 percent, according to Edison Research exit polling, and 23 percent, according to the Associated Press version. Though exit polls are imprecise, it seems clear that White evangelicals maintained the roughly 26 percent proportion of the electorate they’ve occupied since 2008, even though their proportion of the population has steadily shrunk from 21 percent in 2008.

This means White evangelicals turned out in mind-boggling numbers. Because they maintained their roughly 80 percent support for Republicans (76 percent and 81 percent in the two exit polls) of recent years, it also means some 40 percent of Trump voters came from a group that is only 15 percent of America. [snip]

White evangelicals have, in effect, skewed the electorate by masking the rise of a young, multiracial and largely secular voting population. The White evangelicals’ overperformance also shows, unfortunately, why the racist appeal Trump made in this campaign was effective. White evangelicals were fired up like no other group by Trump’s encouragement of white supremacy.

A Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate who now runs the Public Religion Research Institute, Robert P. Jones, argues that Trump inspired White Christians, “not despite, but through appeals to white supremacy,” attracting them not because of economics or morality, “but rather that he evoked powerful fears about the loss of White Christian dominance.”

The Institute’s American Values Survey from September found overwhelming majorities of White evangelical Protestants saying that police killings of African Americans were “isolated incidents,” and that Confederate flags and monuments are symbols of Southern pride rather than racism. (Smaller majorities of White mainline Protestants and Catholics felt the same way.) Majorities of White evangelicals also perceived discrimination against Christians and Whites, and rejected the idea that slavery and longtime discrimination make it difficult for Black Americans to succeed. (our emphasis) 

Their population isn't shrinking fast enough.

There is a demographic that shifted strongly away from the Sore Loser, though:

While the 2020 exit polls have not yet been finalized, we can already say with certainty that Americans who have served in the military shifted their political preferences dramatically over the last four years. In 2016, voters who served in the armed forces supported Donald Trump by a wide 60-34 margin, but preliminary data from this year shows that this same group gave Trump a much narrower 54-44 edge. In all, that’s a 16-point swing—far wider than the national shift in the popular vote over the same timespan.

The reasons for this surge are many. One preelection poll found, for instance, that active-duty service members took dim views of Trump’s dismissive approach to reports that the Russian government placed bounties on the heads of American troops in Afghanistan. These same respondents disagreed even more sharply with Trump’s desire to send the military into American cities during protests against police violence targeting Black people this summer.

Let's keep them in our camp. 

Former Fox "News" troll and not- an- epidemiologist Scott Atlas is still using his White (Supremacist) House perch to incite sedition:

White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Scott Atlas criticized Michigan's new Covid-19 restrictions in a tweet shortly after they were announced Sunday evening, urging people to "rise up" against the new public health measures.

"The only way this stops is if people rise up," Atlas said. "You get what you accept. #FreedomMatters #StepUp"

 

We look forward to Atlas and fellow destructive cranks in the Trump regime rising up and stepping away from Washington after January 20.

Meanwhile, as Atlas and his ilk play with fire by opposing mitigation efforts like Michigan's, the dark Winter approaches:

Treatments for COVID-19 have improved since the Northeast outbreak. The ratio of hospitalizations to deaths has fallen tremendously since the spring. But it is also true that wherever we see hospitalizations go up, deaths rise two to three weeks later. We’ve seen it happen in state after state, in region after region, and nationally as well. [snip] 

Throughout the year, hospitals and health-care workers have issued warnings that if we do see hospitals overwhelmed, fatality rates will soar. As cases and hospitalizations continue to rise nationwide, we are poised to enter a new and possibly bleaker phase of the pandemic. We can only hope that if more state officials act quickly to establish effective mitigation measures, their effects will come in time to avoid the worst.

 

On the vaccine front, it appears we have another winner:

Biotech company Moderna said on Monday that early analysis from its phase 3 trial shows its Covid-19 vaccine is 94.5 percent effective at preventing the infection, offering hope of a second breakthrough in as many weeks.

The news comes a week after pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said early analysis showed its vaccine candidate was more than 90 percent effective.

Moderna also said its vaccine does not require ultra-cold storage, unlike the candidate announced by Pfizer that has to be stored at temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius (-94 Fahrenheit) or below, easing concerns about how to efficiently distribute vaccines to billions of people around the world. (our emphasis)

We just have to do what we can to mitigate the spread over the next few months (face masks, wash hands, social distancing, etc.) to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed and deaths from exploding. We won't get any help from the MAGA cult, though.

We close again with our usual recommendation to check out Infidel 753's link round-up.  It's like a weekly kaleidoscope of "various interesting stuff," as he aptly puts it.  (We found the post on vets supporting President- elect Biden there.)

Fox Parts With Another Creep (UPDATED)

Another one bites the dust:

Fox News has parted ways with host Eric Bolling, the network confirmed Friday, just over a month after an exclusive HuffPost report revealed Bolling sent inappropriate text messages to current and former female colleagues. [snip] 

“Eric Bolling and Fox have agreed to part ways amicably,” the network said. “We thank Eric for his ten years of service to our loyal viewers and wish him the best of luck.” 

HuffPost’s report, which was based on 14 sources, revealed that at least three current and former Fox colleagues said they had received inappropriate text messages from Bolling, including photos of male genitalia.

Bolling has been one of the worst of the worst on the Republican propaganda/ sex offender network; it's a safe bet he'll likely be replaced by someone just as awful. Still, it's time for some sweet schadenfreude for the fall of this Trump slurping, "misogynistic, bigoted birther."

UPDATE: By a terrible coincidence, Bolling's 19- year- old son and only child died Friday night. No one deserves that kind of heartbreak.

Another Sex Scandal At Fox? (UPDATED)

(Fox "News" Eric Bolling, from the chest up, but still a dick pic)

Would the last hypocritical sexual pervert/ predator to leave Fox "News," please turn out the lights? Mega- weasel Eric Bolling, looks like it's time for an unscheduled vacation:

Eric Bolling, a longtime Fox News host, sent an unsolicited photo of male genitalia via text message to at least two colleagues at Fox Business and one colleague at Fox News, a dozen sources told HuffPost.  

Recipients of the photo confirmed its contents to HuffPost, which is not revealing their identities. The women, who are Bolling’s current and former Fox colleagues, concluded the message was from him because they recognized his number from previous work-related and informal interactions. The messages were sent several years ago, on separate occasions.

Bolling, of course, is a major slurper of sexual predator Donald "Rump" Trump, so 'nuf said. He also was a big critic of fellow dick pic- er Anthony Weiner, so 'nuf said again.

Take it away, Twitter:

WEINER: Where did you learn to do this stuff?  BOLLING: You, alright? I learned it by watching you!

— Ozzie (@Jurj_Clooners) August 5, 2017

Eric Bolling "does not believe" he sent dick pics to female coworkers, but can't be sure because "that thing has a mind of its own."

— Paul Todd (@ptodd62) August 5, 2017

At Eric Bolling's home...

ERIC: Its a deep state plot to embarrass Trump by Soros funded leakers who hate Fox
WIFE: You cheated didn't you.

— Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) August 5, 2017

So, Eric Bolling a hypocrite.  You don't say.

— Wayne (@Wayne1each) August 5, 2017

And, for the win --

All pictures of Bolling are dick pics TBH https://t.co/z448ZMPr9T

— Zoey Bartlet-Young (@Zoey_Bartlet) August 5, 2017

(h/t and more at Raw Story)

UPDATE:  The Dick "has been suspended pending the results of an investigation."  Musical accompaniment, please.

Trump And The Pharisees

The natural affinity of immoral evangelical con artists with immoral con artist Donald "Rump" Trump is explored by Seth Meyers:

Democracy Also Dies In Indecency

Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan, yesterday on certain foul reptilians' politicizing the death of Seth Rich:

... On Sunday, former House speaker and Trump insider Newt Gingrich used Fox’s national platform to spread the lies, squandering what remains of his own credibility to make respectable people think it might be so. (Police think it may have been a robbery gone wrong.) 

Decent people should shun both Hannity and Gingrich. (our emphasis)

The Washington Post op/ ed page this morning:

The president just made a titanic foreign policy shift. The media missed it. By Newt Gingrich

That would be the same newspaper that adopted the post- election slogan, "Democracy dies in darkness."  Good to know the Post has such high, immutable standards.

Wanted: $65 Million Jet To Keep Up With The Dollars

News Item: "Prosperity Gospel" huckster televangelist Creflo "Give Me Your Last" Dollar (yes) is asking his sheeple flock for a "love gift" (no, not that kind).  It seems the pastor of the World Changers (Moneychangers? The Dollar Store?) Church in Georgia is in need of a jet that will set his 200,000 followers back $65 million.  Here's the appeal:

"We believe it is time to replace this aircraft so that our Pastors and staff can continue to safely and swiftly share the Good News of the Gospel worldwide," the copy read. 

"... Therefore, we are asking members, partners, and supporters of this ministry to assist us in acquiring a Gulfstream G650 airplane so that Pastors Creflo and Taffi and World Changers Church International can continue to blanket the globe with the Gospel of grace." [snip]

And while the video asks specifically for $300 from 200,000 donors, the written appeal noted: "Your love gift of any amount will be greatly appreciated." 

Dollar, by the way, is also remembered for his ostentatious appeals to parishoners to support and pray for then-President George "Dumbya" Bush ("a man of wisdom" who is "strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit") =cough= Republican =cough=.  He's also had a run-in with the law in a family violence case ("spare the rod...!"). So, nice!

So as not to be shamed by coming up short in the jet purchase/ prosperity stakes by  Pastor "Give Me Your Last" Dollar, we at the Hackwhackers Church of the Fleeced Flock humbly ask that you give whatever you can so we can jet around the country following the Pastor in order to swiftly share the Good News that a person would be better off burying his/ her "love gift" in a can in his/ her backyard than giving it unto this pharisee.  Can we get an "amen"?

In Entertainment News….

News item:  Sir Elton John weds his longtime partner David Furnish.

Did homophobe Rush Limpballs give the groom away?  Also, will Wisconsin Governor and Koch employee of the year Scott "Have A Koch" Walker say "Molotov" to the happy couple?

BONUS:  And then there's cable star and word-salad shooter Sarah Palin firing up her twitter machine to wish some folks a happy birthday:

Well, in her defense, those Dick Duck Dynasty people do act like a bunch of dicks.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

It would appear that the revolving door between politics and lobbying is operating smoothly, as Ezra Klein notes:

"In 2010, Sen. Evan Bayh retired. Part of the reason, he told me, was that the corrosive effect of money in politics had left his profession looking corrupt. 'You want to be engaged in an honorable line of work,' Bayh said, 'but they look at us like we're worse than used-car salesmen.'

On Friday, Bayh announced that he was joining Apollo Global Management, a private-equity megafirm, as 'a senior adviser with responsibility for public policy.' Something tells me that this isn't going to vastly improve the way Americans think about their politicians."

ConservaDem "Bye" Bayh was usually one of the first to support Rethug policy proposals, so it isn't much of a surprise that he'd go for the big corporate bucks after retiring. Now he can save a place at the firm for the equally sanctimonious Sen. Joe Lieberliar (Party of Joe - CT) when he departs the Senate.

Just Wondering. . .

. . . .whether right-wing Gov. Mark "States' Rights" Sanford of South Carolina, who wanted to turn down Federal stimulus money, will be rejecting Federal emergency funds after declaring a state of emergency in parts of his state battling wildfires. They're nothing if not hypocrites.

Hip-Hip Hypocrisy!

Thanks to "The Daily Show," we have a video record of the stunning, often unintentionally hilarious hypocrisy of the "Mayberry Machiavelli's" who have been "running" this country for the past 8 years, and who want to continue to "run" it (into the ground) for the next 4.

(h/t to Balloon Juice)

GOP: The "Daddy Party" (If Your Daddy's a Perv)

(This graphic never gets old.) Watching MSNBC last night, Dan Abrams was doing a recap of Rethug vs. Dem sex-oriented scandals over the past 10 years, and counted 10 Rethug scandals to 5 Dem scandals. (When you add in the corruption scandals of Abramoff, Cunningham, etc., you really have a Rethug landslide.) The names just roll off the tongue (but then be sure to gargle!): Sen. "Lewd Larry" Craig, Sen. "Diaper Dave" Vitter, Fla. State Rep. Bob "BJ" Allen, Mark Foley, Randall Tobias, Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston, etc., etc. The majority of these involved heterosexual "misdeeds," so we're not making the connection the Rethugs do, i.e., solely between gay sexual "misdeeds" and perversion. But we can't help but long for the day when the still-closeted Rethugs are outed: Senate Minority Leader Missy McConnell, Sen. Lindsay Graham, Reps. David Dreier (CA), Jim McCrery (LA), wee Patrick McHenry (NC), Phil English (PA), Dana Rohrabacher (CA)... I'll stop there, my fingers are getting sore.

Glenn Greenwald has a perceptive piece on the Rethug's "family values" double standard, when adhering to principle might cause you some pain.