Wednesday, August 28, 2024

RFK, Jr., To Remain On Ballot In Wisconsin, Michigan




After dropping out of the Presidential race following a collapse in his poll numbers, brain wormed crank RFK, Jr., endorsed the Malignant Loser, betraying his family's legacy and his own professed beliefs. He also said that to avoid being a "spoiler" he'd remove his name from the ballot in battleground states to help the Malignant Loser. However, state officials in Wisconsin and Michigan have ruled that his name will remain on the ballot in these two swing states. From NBC News:

"Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be unable to remove himself from the ballots in the key swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin, election officials confirmed Tuesday, days after he ended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump. [snip]

In his speech Friday dropping out of the race and backing Trump, Kennedy said he would work to remove his name from ballots in states where he could play a spoiler role.

'In about 10 battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler, I'm going to remove my name, and I've already started that process and urge voters not to vote for me,' Kennedy said.

'Our polling consistently showed by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues,' he added." (our emphasis)

The "existential issues" that he disagrees with the Dems about are that they didn't offer him a job in the next Administration. The Malignant Loser's "drill baby drill" anti-environmentalism, his opposition to reproductive freedom, his "Project 2025" blueprint? No biggie for the cynical, opportunistic RFK, Jr., whose principles are obviously temporary and negotiable.

After his  poll numbers cratered, RFK, Jr., had few supporters left who hadn't made a choice among the Malignant Loser, V.P. Harris, or staying home. But this is a good development to ensure those few who might have swung to the Malignant Loser can still vote for the other lunatic in the race:  RFK, Jr.

(photo: Endangered dirty birds of a feather. Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times)

 

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Tweets / Xeets Of The Day

 

Ups --

 

 

Downs --

 

 

Ups and downs --

 

 

Ghoul Trump was there solely to honor the fallen "suckers" and "losers," of course! --


 

 

2024's massive media fail --

 

 

 

 

 

Taking the fight 500 miles into the war criminals' territory --

 


Gov. Walz on gutter maintenance, and more 😁 --

 

 

 

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Mid-Week Song

 

The rock group The Killers are one of the most successful bands in the past 20 years, selling over 28 million records internationally. In addition to their own recordings, they've collaborated with such artists as Bruce Springsteen, Lindsey Buckingham, and the late Lou Reed. They've also been active in supporting Dems, and in environmental and AIDS research philanthropy. Their newest single, "Bright Lights", was released earlier this month, featuring lead singer Brandon Flowers' dramatic vocals and showman style. 



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Sentencing The Insurrectionists -- First Man In

 

Then:


Now:



Another dimbulb MAGAt insurrectionist gets his comeuppance.  We're guessing this is the only time he's been first in anything:

A Kentucky man who was the first rioter to enter the U.S. Capitol during a mob’s attack on the building was sentenced on Tuesday to more than four years in prison.

A police officer who tried to subdue Michael Sparks with pepper spray described him as a catalyst for the Jan. 6 insurrection. The Senate that day recessed less than one minute after Sparks jumped into the building through a broken window. Sparks then joined other rioters in chasing a police officer up flights of stairs.

Before learning his sentencing, Sparks told the judge that he still believes the 2020 presidential election was marred by fraud and “completely taken from the American public.”

“I am remorseful that what transpired that day didn’t help anybody,” Sparks said. “I am remorseful that our country is in the state it’s in.”

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who sentenced Sparks to four years and five months, told him that there was nothing patriotic about his prominent role in what was a “national disgrace.”

“I don’t really think you appreciate the full gravity of what happened that day and, quite frankly, the full seriousness of what you did,” the judge said.  [snip]

In the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, Sparks used social media to promote conspiracy theories about election fraud and advocate for a civil war.

“It’s time to drag them out of Congress. It’s tyranny,” he posted on Facebook three days before the riot.

Sparks traveled to Washington, D.C, with co-workers from an electronics and components plant in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. They attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6.

After the rally, Sparks and a friend, Joseph Howe, joined a crowd in marching to the Capitol. Both of them wore tactical vests. Howe was captured on video repeatedly saying, “we’re getting in that building.”

Off camera, Sparks added: “All it’s going to take is one person to go. The rest is following,” according to prosecutors. Sparks’ attorney argued that the evidence doesn’t prove that Sparks made that statement.

“Of course, both Sparks and Howe were more right than perhaps anyone else knew at the time — it was just a short time later that Sparks made history as the very first person to go inside, and the rest indeed followed,” prosecutors wrote.  [snip]

Undeterred by pepper spray, Sparks joined other rioters in chasing Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman as he retreated up the stairs and found backup from other officers near the Senate chamber.

“This is our America!” Sparks screamed at police. He left the building about 10 minutes later...

Now, the real America invites you to enjoy a cell in a real American Federal prison for the next four years.  Unrepentant moron.

The FBI is still looking for the insurrectionists who tried to overturn our system of government on January 6, 2021.  If you recognize anyone not yet apprehended, do your country a favor and pick up the phone, 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324), or visit tips.fbi.gov.

(Top photos: Department of Justice; bottom: Sparks on August 27, 2024 / AP Photo/ Mark Schiefelbein)

 

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Special Counsel Takes Action On Jan. 6 Case




Yesterday's filing of a superseding indictment (pdf) in the January 6 insurrection case against the Malignant Loser was Special Counsel Jack Smith's second action against him following Monday's appeal of Trumpist Judge Aileen Cannon's dismissal of the stolen classified documents case. The filing in the January 6 case trimmed back some of the cited evidence that might be construed as violating the Malignant Loser's "immunity" for official acts, as judged by his partisan Supreme Court this past summer, specifically his interactions with Justice Department officials. Significantly, the indictment retains all four of the original charges. From CNN:

"Prosecutors have not dropped any of the four charges that they initially brought against the former president. However, the newly retooled indictment has carved out some of Trump’s alleged conduct, including allegations about the attempts to use the Justice Department to promote his false claims of election fraud.

It also adjusts how prosecutors describe the allegations they are continuing to bring about Trump’s election subversion schemes.

'The superseding indictment, which was presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case, reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions in Trump v. United States,' the special counsel’s office said.

The replacement indictment thrusts the question of Trump’s effort to steal the 2020 election back into the critical final months of the 2024 campaign. For much of this year, the ex-president’s legal and political narratives merged through his claims that he was the victim of a conspiracy by the Biden administration to weaponize justice against him." (our emphasis)

The "question" of the Malignant Loser's failed, violent insurrection should never have been out of the discussion for this election year as a disqualifying action.  Yet for his cult, it was just a dress rehearsal.

Whether or not presiding Federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan will have an evidentiary hearing prior to the election is not clear. That would allow the Government to bring forth the specifics of the crimes that the Malignant Loser is accused of back into the public spotlight.  In any event, it's clear and encouraging that Special Counsel Smith hasn't dropped the ball on these two Federal cases, and is vigorously pursuing them.

(photo: Smith announcing superseding indictment. Alex Wong / Getty Images)

 

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Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Jack Ohman, @jackohman60)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(R.J. Matson, CQ/Roll Call)

(Gary Taxali, @GaryTaxali)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Michael de Adder, Toronto Star)

(Bob Englehart, caglecartoons.com)

(Drew Sheneman, The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ)

(Jeff Koterba, caglecartoons.com)

(Ted Littleford, @tedlittleford)

(John Auchter, michiganpublic.org)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Lars Kenseth, @larskenseth)


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Vid Of The Day -- "Full House"

 

A new ad from the Harris-Walz campaign highlighting their plan to lower housing costs, boost homeownership, and increase the housing stock in America.

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Tweets / Xeets Of The Day

 

Make him even more nuts --



The Malignant Loser campaigns at Arlington National Cemetery. Among the dead he calls "losers" -- 


Message to the Malignant Loser from voting rights hero Marc Elias --



Our broken media's need for false equivalence / both siderism, part infinity --

 


Speaking of false equivalence / both siderism, here's Zuck's contribution --


 

Has-been Russian stooge Tulsi Gabbard endorses the Malignant Loser. Yawn. -- 


 


What's that Musk-y smell?  His pro-terrorist "X" content facing pushback -- 



They must have been lured out with lots of vodka. Slava Ukraini! -- 



Flipping amazing -- 

 

 

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Texas Republican Orders Raids Of Group Registering Latino Voters

 



Securities fraudster and bribe- taking (allegedly!) ultra- MAGAt Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is going after a Latino civil rights organization that's supporting Democratic get- out- the- vote efforts.

The nation's oldest Latino civil rights organization, LULAC, is one of several entities in Texas targeted in voter fraud raids led by state Attorney General Ken Paxton, CBS News has learned.

In a letter first obtained by CBS News, LULAC requested that the Justice Department investigate Paxton's office for Voting Rights Act violations. The organization is accusing Paxton's office of carrying out illegal searches premised on voter fraud. 

"These actions echo a troubling history of voter suppression and intimidation that has long targeted both Black and Latino communities, particularly in states like Texas, where demographic changes have increasingly shifted the political landscape," LULAC CEO Juan Proaño and the group's national president, Roman Palomares, said in the letter.

The Justice Department confirmed receipt of the letter and declined to comment further. (Ed. -- somebody wake up Merrick Garland!)

Last week, Paxton's office announced in a press release that it was launching undercover operations and an investigation into reports alleging some organizations in Texas are unlawfully registering noncitizens to vote, in violation of state and federal law. 

LULAC officials told CBS News that some of the group's Texas members were targeted and had their laptops and cell phones confiscated by Texas authorities executing search warrants. Some of the raids focused on Latino activists across the state. 

"Attorney General Paxton is using his position of authority to harass and intimidate Latino non-profit organizations like LULAC, Latino Leaders and LULAC members," Juan Proaño, LULAC's CEO told CBS News, calling the state AG's effort "point-blank" voter intimidation. "It is evident through his pattern of lawsuits, raids, searches, and seizures that he is trying to keep Latinos from voting."... (our emphasis)

Texas will one day be a purple, then a blue state, and everything voter intimidating and suppressing MAGAt Republicans like Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott are doing, in concert with their gerrymandered legislature and corrupt courts, is intended to delay that day for as long as they can.  For years, Paxton has been using bogus claims of "voter fraud" to justify voter intimidation tactics (whenever he's not in court defending himself against fraud and bribery charges).  It's long been a Republican thing to try to suppress the votes of Democratic constituencies, but it's been kicked up several notches in the autocratic Malignant Loser era because the stake have gotten higher with each election, and because it's Republicans, not Democrats, that have to cheat to win.

(Cartoon:  Steve Sack, Minneapolis Tribune (2021))


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Special Counsel Asks Appeals Court To Reinstate Trump Classified Docs Case

 



ICYMI, Special Counsel Jack Smith is challenging utterly corrupt Judge Aileen Cannon's outrageous decision to dismiss the slam- dunk classified documents case against her cult leader:

Special counsel Jack Smith urged a federal appeals court Monday to reinstate the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, saying a judge’s decision that dismissed the prosecution was at odds with longstanding Justice Department practice and must be reversed.

Smith’s team said U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon made a grievous mistake by ruling that Smith was unlawfully appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland. That position, prosecutors wrote in a brief filed with the Atlanta-based appeals court, runs counter to rulings by judges across the country as well as “widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.”

If allowed to stand, they warned, it could ”jeopardize the longstanding operation of the Justice Department and call into question hundreds of appointments throughout the Executive Branch.”

“The Attorney General validly appointed the Special Counsel, who is also properly funded,” prosecutors wrote. “In ruling otherwise, the district court deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent, misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsel’s appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney General appointments of special counsels.”

The appeal is the latest development in a prosecution that many legal experts have long considered a straightforward criminal case given the breadth of evidence, including surveillance video and an audio recording of Trump’s own words, that Justice Department investigators accumulated during the course of the probe. But over the last year, the case has been snarled by delays as Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, entertained assorted Trump team motions before ultimately dismissing the prosecution in a stunning decision that brought the proceedings to at least a temporary halt.   [snip]

The case, one of four federal and state prosecutions brought against Trump, includes dozens of felony charges alleging that Trump illegally retained classified documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida and obstructed the government’s efforts to get them back. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

At issue in the appeal is a provision of the Constitution known as the Appointments Clause, which requires presidential approval and Senate confirmation for certain public officials, including judges, ambassadors and “all other officers of the United States.” (our emphasis)

How long the 11th Circuit will take to rule on the Special Counsel's motion is unclear, but however it rules (even if it removes the corrupt Cannon from the case, something the Special Counsel didn't ask for), there's no possibility of the case going to trial before the November election.  The appeal may also end up in the Republican Supreme Court, where corrupt Justice Clarence Thomas has already signaled he thinks Special Counsel appointments are invalid (which prompted Cannon to issue her ruling).

With the prospect of VP Harris becoming the 47th President of the United States (everybody vote, dammit!) no longer a long- shot, Cannon's maneuvering to help her benefactor avoid the consequences of his felonious behavior may yet come a cropper.  Obviously, the election result as well as how many other corrupt Republican judges in the system are willing to help their cult leader will be the final test of whether the most manifestly lawless person ever to become President faces those consequences.

(Photo illustration: Salon/Getty Images/ US District Court for the Southern District of Florida)

 

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Republican Officials Call For Harris' Election

Waiting on you three




Some 238 Republican officials who worked for President Bush, Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Mitt Romney have signed an open letter blasting the Malignant Loser and endorsing the election of V.P. Harris and Gov. Tim Walz:

"Those who signed the pro-Harris letter include Jean Becker, George H.W. Bush’s chief of staff; Mark Salter and Chris Koch, former chiefs of staff for McCain; David Nierenberg, Romney’s 2012 campaign finance chair; and David Garman, undersecretary for energy under George W. Bush.

The letter is not only supportive of Harris but critical of Trump. In it, the Republican alumni say Trump presents a threat to the United States and countries around the world, saying that he and his 'acolyte,' running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), 'kowtow to dictators like [Russian President] Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies. We can’t let that happen.'

The group also wrote that 'moderate Republicans and conservative independents in key swing states' were key in securing Biden’s 2020 victory as they 'put country far before party' — and that they must once again 'take a brave stand' in this election and support Harris over Trump." (our emphasis)

While it's largely a list of sub-Cabinet officials and staff, it does carry the weight of those who have worked to elect Republicans in the past, and who are now convinced that V.P. Harris' election is a patriotic duty. 

We're waiting to see if bigger names come out forcefully for the Harris - Walz ticket. If endorsing V.P. Harris is a bridge too far, then make the case why the Malignant Loser is unfit and dangerous based on your personal knowledge. People from his national security team like Gen. John Kelly, Gen. James Mattis, Gen. H.R. McMaster and others have been content with critical quoted comments or excerpts from memoirs, but that doesn't have the range or impact of a stark, somber television and social media ad that reaches millions of viewers. Will they rise to the occasion?  We have our doubts.

(photo illustration: Time to stand up, generals. Yahoo News photo Illustration / photos: AP, Getty, Reuters)
 
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Monday, August 26, 2024

QOTD -- Ridicule Him!

 

"... Harris’s campaign so far has been a work of genius on several levels, but maybe the most ingenious stroke of all has been the decision to mock Trump—to present him not only as someone to fear but also to ridicule. Harris perfectly encapsulated this two-pronged attack in these memorable lines from her acceptance speech: 'In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences—but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.… Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.'

"But the emphasis has been on ridicule (Tim Walz’s 'weird' comment, Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s jab at Trump’s bone spurs, Barack Obama’s hilarious hand gesture when he was talking about Trump’s obsession with crowd size). It’s great on three levels. The first is that it must drive Trump nuts, and when he goes nuts, he says especially nutty things. Second, it’s arguably more persuasive to swing voters than calling Trump a fascist. Trump is a fascist, make no mistake. But he’s also ridiculous. Mocking him over his Hannibal Lecter obsession will stick in apolitical people’s minds far more strongly than warning about his plans to wreck the Justice Department, and in its way, it’s just as disqualifying. Do we really want a president who thinks an eater of human flesh, however fictional, was misunderstood?"  -- Michael Tomasky, in The New Republic, on the Malignant Loser's Achilles heel -- ridicule.  As lowly bloggers, we have always felt free to ridicule the Malignant Loser (see!?), and will continue to do so.  And, don't forget RFK, Jr.!  When the corporate media clutches its pearls at the Harris-Walz campaign doing the same, including "fact checking" the ludicrous, it's simply more proof that, rather than being "guardians of democracy," they're willing collaborators in the Malignant Loser's attack on it.


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Tweets / Xeets Of The Day

 

"Zero Kelvin on the scale of absolute cuckhood" 😂 --

 

 

More Profiles in Cowardice --

 


D'oh! --

 


🎵 Memories ... --

 

 

Birds of a feather ... --

 

 

Somebody wake up Merrick Garland --

 

 

Trump's "It's all about me" grift goes on --

 

 


Our broken media, New York Effing Times infinity edition --

 


Truth in advertising --

 


... or to Venezuela? 😁 --

 


Stop tying Ukraine's hands! --

 


Just one more! --


 

 

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"Palace Intrigue" Threatens Trump's Campaign

 



A potential power struggle within the Malignant Loser's flailing campaign is causing nervousness among the cult leader's staff, the Guardian reports:

"Donald Trump’s campaign remains jittery about the prospect of a power struggle inside the inner circle that could become a major distraction just months until the 2024 election, even if​ the jockeying for influence by top officials has ended with a truce, according to people familiar with the matter.

The momentary power play among the senior advisers is widely seen to be over, for now, after the 2016 campaign chief, Corey Lewandowski, distanced himself from suggestions he was returning to the fold to run the campaign and the current leadership remained in their roles. (Lewandowski was brought on the current campaign as an adviser.)" (our emphasis)

Lewandowski is a piece of work, even in among his despicable colleagues in the campaign. He was fired from a Malignant Loser- aligned PAC for making sexual advances to a donor's wife, and was charged with battery after an incident in 2016 when he grabbed a female reporter. His hiring is seen as an act of desperation by the Malignant Loser as he copes unsuccessfully with a surging V.P. Harris. More:

"The jitters have calmed down for now because no one expects Lewandowski or anyone else to become the head of the Trump campaign, after the other senior advisers in effect revolted at the idea of Lewandowski taking over and privately complained to Trump, the people said.

The morning that Trump formally decided to add Lewandowski to the campaign leadership, Trump told his team to 'find something for Corey to do', according to two people in the room.

​And when word reached the other senior advisers that there had been chatter about Lewandowski​ supposedly coming in to run the campaign, Trump re-expressed faith in Wiles and LaCivita in private and in public at a press conference at his Bedminster club in New Jersey." (our emphasis)

Remember that the Malignant Loser has always thrived in chaos around him, watching others vie for his approval and rewards, and this is no exception. The fact that he had no idea what to do with Lewandowski speaks to the Malignant Loser's utter lack of management and organization skills, as well as his desperation.

 

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Today's Tomorrow Cartoon

 

(click to enlarge) 



The broken political media's urge to establish false equivalency in their "fact checking" operations makes it all the more easy for right-wingers to get their lies and propaganda treated with the same seriousness given to Dems. A recent prime example is the Washington Post's hair splitting "fact checking" of the DNC, where verbs and adjectives were put under a microscope and judged. As far as the Malignant Loser's fire hose of lies are concerned, the same fact checkers appear to have become numb to them and their frequency.

 

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