Yay! Tammy Baldwin has been in Congress for 24 years and she's wants 6 more years.
There was more changeover in the USSR's Supreme Soviet than there is in the US Congress.
We once had this idea of a "citizen-legislator," not a permanent professional class of politicians.
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Tammy Baldwin
@tammybaldwin
·
4h
It’s official: I’m running for reelection!
Wisconsin’s working families deserve a Senator who’s going to fight for them—not shady special interests or big corporations. We’ve made a lot of progress, but the stakes have never been higher and our work isn’t over yet.
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Only
a self-loather like Glenneth would feel the need to attack the only
open lesbian in the Senate for running for a third term. That's not
DiFi territory. But Glenneth has to attack Tammy. He has to reach his
quota each day or his conservative pals might give him a wedgie or a wet
willie.
89
years old. She's an old fool. She should have retired long ago.
She's too old and too stupid to realize the damage she does. If she
can't get her rear to DC and participate in hearings and on the floor,
she needs to retire right now. And Fetterman better get his butt into
Congress as well. He's not demonstrating that he's fit for office
either.
This is
disgusting. And it is why we do not need Barbara Lee in the Senate.
She turns 77 this year. She wants to run in 2024 for DiFi's seat.
She'll be 78 then. It's an eight year term and she'd be 86 after.
Retire your tired butt. Your ego should not require that America
suffer.
I agree with her.
And
Tammy needs to be in the Senate. Glenneth doesn't care about marriage
equality. He moved to Brazil (to hide from his loved ones what a
submissive bottom he is to David Miranda) and doesn't live in this
country. It would be nice if he could focus on Brazil since that is
where he lives, where he 'raises' a family ('raises' because I'm sure
the two kids have been lost with David in the hospital).
If you've never grasped his ego, he flaunted it again today:
When the WashPost reported that myself and Tulsi Gabbard were moving to Rumble to broadcast programs, it also
English,
Glenneth, learn it. It is not "myself and Tulsi" -- even if she's your
hag, she comes first. It's Tulsi and I, for example. Not only are you
wrong with your word order but saying "myself" -- heaven help the
moron.
Wednesday, April 12, 2023. Corruption dances across the American
landscape while THE ATLANTIC rushes to minimize it, 42-year-old member
of Congress 'forgets' that she's not married (and has never been
married), and much more.
Will
Crooked Clarence Thomas be punished? Will he be removed from the
Supreme Court to restore some legitimacy to the body? Or is the whole
system so corrupt that he'll be allowed to remain on the bench and
pretend like nothing happened? Barry Grey's WSWS report would argue for the latter since the whole system has become corrupt:
A common feature of the pervasive corruption of capitalist politics
and politicians in America is the practice of using privileged
information to make stock trades, particularly in the midst of the
recurring crises that beset Wall Street. In such matters, as in passing
laws to ban strikes by rail workers and impose contracts rejected by the
workers, bipartisanship prevails.
Last month’s government bailout
of rich depositors at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the
second and third biggest bank failures in US history, is no exception.
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal,
citing recent legally required disclosures, reported that three House
members, two Republicans and one Democrat, two of whom were directly
involved in secret bailout talks, made substantial trades in bank stocks
in the initial days of the crisis. According to the Journal’s
own investigation, New York Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis and
Oregon Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer made trades that marked “the
latest instance of congressional stock trading intersecting with
official business.”
Malliotakis bought stock in New York Community Bankcorp (NYCB) on
March 17, two days before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced
that Flagstar Bank, a subsidiary of NYCB, would take on Signature’s
deposits. Signature, headquartered in New York City, had been placed in
receivership by New York regulators on March 12.
Just days before
she bought the stock, Malliotakis issued a statement (March 13) on her
Twitter account in which she boasted of working closely with federal and
state officials to address the failure of Signature.
“Both last
night and this morning I have been meeting with the Federal Reserve,
U.S. Department of Treasury, Governor [Kathy] Hochul and New York State
Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne Harris to
discuss the closure of Signature Bank,” she wrote, adding, “I have been
assured all depositors will be made whole through the Deposit Insurance
Fund which is made up of contributions from all member banks, not
taxpayer funds.”
Malliotakis bought $1,001 to $15,000 in NYBC
stock on March 17. The day after the March 19 announcement that NYBC’s
Flagstar subsidiary would acquire Signature’s deposits, NYBC stock rose
32 percent, landing the congresswoman a tidy profit.
Rep.
Malliotakis’s disclosure said the stock purchase was made by her spouse,
a common excuse given by politicians who are involved in insider
trading. Unfortunately for the congresswoman, she is unmarried.
She
forgot. She forgot she wasn't married. Just slipped her mind. A Greek
Orthodox, 42-year-old woman and she 'just forgot.' Kind of hard to
believe that, kind of hard to believe it hasn't been a topic of
conversation in her own Greek Orthodox family.
Democratic
senators are calling for the Supreme Court to investigate Justice
Clarence Thomas for failing to disclose reported luxury trips funded by a
billionaire Republican donor.
The Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have announced they will hold a hearing on Supreme Court ethics.
The panel also warned of legislation, if the court does not resolve this issue on its own.
Clarence
Thomas is the dumbest U.S. Supreme Court Justice as well as the longest
serving and the most sexually creepy, I always thought, although the
limber Brett Kavanaugh bounced far ahead of him in the last category.
In
2016, Thomas asked a question in court, breaking a 10-year silence. For
a decade, the man had nothing to say. Was he shy? He’s no longer shy,
his confidence built up from hanging with billionaire Harlan Crow.
“What
first attracted you to the billionaire Harlan Crow?” I’d ask Thomas.
“What first attracted you to the non-bright and biddable Justice
Thomas?” I’d ask Crow.
They’re
a pairing made in American hell, a bad influence on each other and a
terror to fellow citizens, particularly women. For 20 years, Crow has
treated Thomas and his family to luxury cruises on his yacht, flights on
his private jet, and stays at his East Texas ranch and his private
Adirondacks resort, ProPublica reveals. His gifts, including portraits, have been lavish. Thomas keeps them secret.
ProPublica’s scrupulously reported new piece
on Justice Clarence Thomas’ decadeslong luxury travel on the dime of a
single GOP megadonor will probably not shock you at all. Sure, the
dollar amounts spent are astronomical, and of course the justice failed
to report any of it, and of course the megadonor insists that he and
Thomas are dear old friends, so of course the superyacht and the flights
on the Bombardier Global 5000 jet and the resorts are all perfectly
benign. So while the details are shocking, the pattern here is hardly a
new one. This is a longstanding ethics loophole that has been exploited
by parties with political interests in cases before the court to curry
favor in exchange for astonishing junkets and perks. It is allowed to
happen.
We
will doubtless spend a few news cycles expressing outrage that Harlan
Crow has spent millions of dollars lavishing the Thomases with lux
vacations and high-end travel and barely pretended to separate business
and pleasure, giving half a million dollars
to a Tea Party group founded by Ginni Thomas in 2011 (which funded her
own $120,000 salary). But because the justices are left to police
themselves and opt not to do so, we will turn to other matters in due
time. Before the outrage dries up, however, it is worth zeroing in on
two aspects of the ProPublica report that do have lasting legal
implications. First, the same people who benefited from the lax status
quo continue to fight against any meaningful reforms that might curb the
justices’ gravy train. Second, the rules governing Thomas’ conduct over
these years, while terribly insufficient, actually did require
him to disclose at least some of these extravagant gifts. The fact that
he ignored the rules anyway illustrates just how difficult it will be
to force the justices to obey the law: Without the strong threat of
enforcement, a putative public servant like Thomas will thumb his nose
at the law.
If
there is a single image that captures this seedy state of affairs, it
is a painting of Thomas hanging out with Leonard Leo (Federalist Society
co-chair and judicial power broker) and Mark Paoletta (who has served
as chief counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence and general counsel
of Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget). Both are political
operatives, though Crow assures us that they would never dare talk about
Thomas’ work. This image should be enough to shock anyone into taking
action against the spigot of dark money that flows directly from
billionaire donors into the court,
its justices, and their spouses’ pockets. Continuing to live as though
there is nothing to be done about any of this is a choice. We make it
every day.
It
is a horror show. And note the silence -- still -- from so many 'left'
YOUTUBERS. And note the shameful whores rushing in to defend Clarence
and/or his sugar daddy. The always embarrassing ATLANTIC offers garbage
from Graeme Wood who rushes to defend Nazi Harlan Crow -- Clarence's
sugar daddy:
Recent reporting by ProPublica
has suggested that that is what Harlan Crow in fact is: a sinister
Croesus meddling in world affairs, chiefly by corrupting Clarence Thomas
with gifts of private-jet flights and bottles of pricey French wine.
Crow also owns Nazi memorabilia, including paintings by Adolf Hitler, a signed copy of Mein Kampf, and a set of swastika-emblazoned napkins.
But,
please note, Graeme insists that doesn't make him a Nazi. After you
question Graeme's sanity, the next one is to ask if Harlan is also
Graeme's sugar daddy?
No, you don't own a
signed copy of MEIN KAMPF unless you're a fan boi. If you're disturbed
-- the natural reaction -- by Hitler crimes and you somehow end up with a
signed copy, you throw it in the trash. You discontinue it as a
collector's item in the interest of the millions who suffered because of
Hitler. That's before we get to the paintings and the
"swastika-emblazoned napkins."
Hon, Happy April 20th. Clarence and Ginni are coming over, where do we keep the swastika-emblazoned napkins?
I've already placed them on the sideboard, right next to our commemorative Heinrich Himmler plates. Happy April 20th.
The incident reflects the broader lack of accountability at the
high court regarding off-bench behavior. Justices regularly brush aside
reporters’ queries for specifics on travel and gifts, book advances and
other extracurricular activities.
They have repeatedly spurned calls by members of Congress that
they adopt a formal ethics code. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Dick Durbin made another such plea to Roberts this week as he also urged
the chief justice to open an investigation into Thomas’ conduct.
At the same time, the high court has long benefited from a certain
degree of good will, free of the scrutiny watchdog groups and news
media have given the legislative and executive branches of government.
They may have squandered that good will.
Polls show the public approval of the court – now controlled by a
conservative supermajority – plunging. The pattern was accelerated after
last summer’s reversal of longstanding precedent in multiple cases,
most notably the decision dissolving nearly a half century of abortion
rights precedent.
It's an illegitimate court and its image is in tatters. This cannot stand.
There’s
no need to demonize and dehumanize any group of people in a legislative
process stacked in Republicans state lawmakers’ favor from the get-go.
Those are the spoils of 20 years of gerrymandering, packing courts with
partisans and voter suppression.
Florida
Republicans hold a super-majority and have all the votes in the
Legislature necessary to pass whatever bill they and their autocratic agenda-setting leader, Gov. DeSantis, could possibly desire.
But they carry the bully gene in their souls.
They’ve
now advanced to quash the most vulnerable among us with evil verbal
attacks that have no place in society, much less the Florida House.
At a committee hearing Monday, Rep. Webster Barnaby, a Deltona Republican, railed against transgender people, calling them “demons and imps” and “mutants from another planet.”
Disgusting
behavior on many levels, but the lack of decorum and civility is
especially galling because he’s targeting vulnerable people —
misunderstood transgender people, who have the highest suicide rates in
the country.
Last
month in Nashville, widely regarded as the entertainment capital of the
South, Tennessee lawmakers passed a law that bans one class of
entertainer: "male and female impersonators," otherwise known as drag
performers. However, a day before the nation's first anti-drag law was set to take effect, a federal judge temporarily blocked it for violating the First Amendment.
That
is right. It's a free speech issue. You wouldn't know that from
watching the endlessly pontificating Jonathan Turley as he climbed the
cross for every right winger who got what was coming to them -- booed.
Booing is not free speech, he Tweets endlessly and he write over and
over in bad columns for FOX "NEWS" and THE NEW YORK POST. Once upon a
time, before he became so disgusting, other newspapers would carry him.
Not now. So Swirley shows up to whine of how uncivil and mean and
wrong it is when a hate merchant gets booed (or claims that they were
'assaulted' when there's no evidence to back that claim up) but when
lawmakers try to strip performers of their First Amendment right, that
doesn't warrant a column -- after over a year of this, he will do a blog
post -- where he pretends he just stop breast feeding his own children
and -- having birthed children (and nearly gotten back that figure) --
he knows how disgusting drag queens are but . . . maybe even they have
some rights too? Such is the decaying mind of what once the country's
leading legal light.
Back to Roman Feeser:
How did drag queens get dragged into politics? For that, we turn to the city of Jackson, Tennessee.
In
March, Tennessee state Rep. Chris Todd, a Republican, indicated to the
state Senate that it was his constituents who requested he take up the
bill: "This past year in my community, we had a local group decide to do
a, quote, family-friendly drag show. When they listed this as
family-friendly, my community rose up."
The
community of Jackson never even saw the scheduled Pride performance
before opponents raised thousands of dollars in donations and filed an
injunction to prevent it from taking place. Todd then introduced the new
bill as an obscenity statute to prevent "adult cabaret performers like
drag queens from performing in public spaces where children could be
present."
Critics
of the bill say an obscenity law is already on the books, and that this
is specifically targeting the LGBTQIA+ community.
And
it does target them. That's why these laws are being proposed. But
that doesn't concern Jonathan Turley. He's too busy throwing his lot in
with Lorie Smith -- the web 'designer' who insists her free speech
rights would be abused and denied if she were forced to design a website
for a same-sex couple. Jonathan's so deep in his homophobia that he
can't even note that the woman has no standing. She's not been asked to
do this and said "no." But, you know, maybe someday, it might come up,
possibly. So by all means let's waste the Supreme Court's time. Once
upon a time, law professors grasped standing, taught standing and
questioned it when a case moved forward when the person bringing it did
not have standing.
But
when, like Jonathan Turley, you now drop to all fours and beg the
bigotry to take you from behind, you can't be bothered with legal
concepts.
If he didn't also
agree to a ball-gag, maybe he could explain to us all how Lorie Smith
has been injured? She thinks she will. She thinks someday a same-sex
couple is going to come to her for a website -- they'd have to be really
self-loathing to pay her any money -- and that, when that happens, she
will be damaged. Where's the injury right now? There is none.
But
that's what we have that no one wants to get honest about: A crazed
right-wing, motivated by hate, working to overturn the rights of
everyone. They plot in secret, they seek out idiots like Lorie Smith to
pursue cases and they try to get those cases with the judges they
want. I'd argue the whole thing is a criminal conspiracy that is
abusing the courts and is a threat to democracy. As Nazi worshipper
Harlan Crow demonstrates, big money gives you access. Clarence Thomas'
sugar daddy is all about pay-to-play and democracy and the law are
destroyed as a result.
But
don't look to Turley to weigh in on that, he's too busy gazing up at
the hate merchants as he kneels before them, ready to service their
every need.
It's
really sad when someone's kink is so out of control that they let it
destroy their reputation but, boys and girls, that's how low Turley's
sunk.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro visibly stumbled as he attempted to defend Republican billionaire donor Harlan Crow’s ownership of Nazi memorabilia and remnants from totalitarian regimes.
The Daily Wire founder used his latest podcast to defend Clarence Thomas’ from ProPublica’s report that
the Supreme Court justice accepted luxurious gifts and vacations paid
for by Crow, and Thomas never marked any of this down in his financial
disclosures. This led to Shapiro fuming over the scrutiny Crow has received for his collection of historical pieces from toppled autocracies.
How sad, how very sad. Billy on the "Unplugged" episode of DIFFICULT PEOPLE (Billy Eichner's
character) was tempted by Cecil Jefford until he saw the man's
collection of Nazi artifacts. That was all it took for Billy. Sadly,
the same cannot be said for Ben Shapiro and, Ben, John Mulaney is not playing the part of Harlan Crow. So exactly what is it that has turned your head?
(John Mulaney's next comedy special debuts on NETFLIX, April 25th, FYI.)
Ben Shapiro can take comfort in the fact that he's still young. John Stauber can't claim to be young. Or good looking.
For
those who don't know, George Sorors has given to Human Rights Watch so
John's furious. I don't like George Soros. I'm on record and that goes
back to the '00s. I had to go on record because Ava and I were accused
of taking Soros money. I don't take blood money. And I'm not a
whore. I can't be bought. Why did the rumor start? Ava and I wrote a piece
that numerous sites reposted (without our permission, which is fine)
and many were, like Danny Schechter's MEDIA CHANNEL, sites that took
money from Soros. We did not take money from him. We did not take
money from anyone. We were not asked by anyone if they could reprint
and we were not told by anyone that they had reposted us. I knew Danny
offline. When I found out that the Soros claim was because of Danny's
reposting, I asked him if he realized that he had damaged our reputation
and he replied with a list of other sites that had reposted Ava and my
piece. Those people may have received money from Soros (I know Danny
did) but Ava and I didn't. And we made clear of that and that we found
the assertion offensive because George Soros has made his money off the
blood of others. That is his line of work. Others have to suffer for
him to profit.
Unlike John Stauber, I reject
George Soros. John kind of does. He pretends he's enraged by everyone
who takes Soros money and but then he reTweets Susan "Medea" Benjamin,
for example. Does he really not know how much money Soros has given
Global Exchange?
He's deranged. (Actually both are, John and George.)
How
stupid is John? I mean, I know he's stupid. Rebecca's rightly pointed
out "john stauber is the 21st century david horowitz." He's gone over to the right and offers his homophobia and his
transphobia and reTweets the most objectionable people -- as Rebecca and
Ruth have repeatedly documented. (He also blocked me when I objected
to his lying about a friend of mine in a Tweet. John just makes up
garbage these days.) But has he lost all his marbles (Ruth was
just saying he was senile with dementia.) The reason I ask is it was
last week that the new spokesperson was noted. And yet FOX BUSINESS
NEWS knows the immediate impact. From looking at sales records? No,
from cherry picking a few bars. Is it even five? Bad writing bores me
and I didn't make it through the whole article.
Imagine
that, FOX BUSINESS "NEWS" -- from the network trying to demonize trans
people -- publishes an article with no real figures or, for that matter,
data and former media critic John Stauber swallows it down to the hairy
root. Well, at least he's found a calling. He's kind of like a
priest . . . with too much time on his hands and unlimited access to
minors.
The Iraqi government has called on Turkiye to apologise for an attack on an airport in the country's northern Kurdish region, Reuters news agency reports.
According to the report, the Iraqi demand on Saturday came as a Turkish Defence Ministry official told the Reuters news agency that no Turkish Armed Forces operation had taken place in that region in recent days.
Iraq's presidency said the attack on
Friday took place in the vicinity of the Sulaimaniyah Airport in the
semi-autonomous Kurdish region, denouncing it as a "flagrant aggression"
against its sovereignty.
The US press that has ignored this attack continue to ignore it.
There was more changeover in the USSR's Supreme Soviet than there is in the US Congress.
We once had this idea of a "citizen-legislator," not a permanent professional class of politicians.
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