August 16, 2019: Republican Senator Finds Humor in Climate Change Threat

 

8/16/19: Sometimes you can lead a horse to water, but if you hit the horse upside the head with a frozen zucchini, the horse will still refuse to learn French. 

Sen. John Cornyn proves this adage apt. Like “Snowball” Jim Inhofe, who once packed a snowball in January and declared therefore that climate change could not be real, Cornyn proves just as dense today. (See: 8/15/19.)

First, let’s put up his lunkhead tweet, a response to a tweet by his colleague, Sen. Chuck Schumer:

Then, let’s mourn the fact that science teachers failed miserably to educate Cornyn when he was a boy. 

Now Cornyn helps baffle and befuddle the GOP base. Note the more than ten thousand “likes.” 

Cornyn is back again tweeting soon after, claiming his first tweet was a light-hearted attempt at humor. The reaction of the “left” goes to show, he says, that the “left” is made up of generally terrible human beings. 

 

 

The humorless “left” in this case would include just about every reputable scientist, every major scientific body, both the NOAA and NASA, and the 195 signatory nations to the Paris Climate Accord. 

All agree climate change is a metastasizing threat and will be no laughing matter for generations to come.

January 27, 2020: Senate Republicans Mull Decision to Call Witnesses in Trump Impeachment Trial

 

1/27/20: Explosive new revelations in President Trump’s impeachment trial may have awakened slumbering GOP senators, who had been cruising toward a speedy acquittal. 

Trump’s defense team continues to plow ahead with their presentation – insisting, for example, that no one with firsthand knowledge has ever said that Trump held up military aid until he got the investigations. (See: 1/25/20; John Bolton.) 

Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell giving thumbs up to not calling witnesses.

 

“Those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton.” 

On Twitter, Sen. Collins of Maine, weighs in with this: 

From the beginning, I’ve said that in fairness to both parties the decision on whether or not to call witnesses should be made after both the House managers and the President’s attorneys have had the opportunity to present their cases.

 

I’ve always said that I was likely to vote to call witnesses, just as I did in the 1999 Clinton trial.

 

The reports about John Bolton’s book strengthen the case for witnesses and have prompted a number of conversations among my colleagues.

 

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who had heretofore made it perfectly clear that he thought House Democrats had nothing, seems to have been poked in the ass by a very sharp reality. He suddenly tweets, “Although we won’t vote on additional witnesses in impeachment trial until Friday, House managers need to know that both sides will have same chance to identify potential witnesses to call. Obvious choices are Adam Schiff, Joe Biden and Hunter Biden for starters.” 

Sen. Cornyn’s response is so idiotic, I felt possessed to respond: 

Who woke you up to do your duty? It has been clear from the start that if you and the other sycophants allowed Trump to stiff the House on all its subpoenas, every president from now to the end of time would ignore the subpoena powers of Congress.

 

Then I added, helpfully, “By the way, Rep. Schiff will eat Trump’s lunch; and Hunter Biden will testify that, okay, he profited from his father’s name, just like Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka Trump.”

 

Lindsey Graham used to believe high crimes didn’t have to be high crimes at all, and said a president could be impeached if he or she used the office “to hurt people.” Then he fell in love with Trump and said there was nothing Trump could do or say that would ever make him want to impeach his orange idol. He wasn’t going to look at any stinking evidence. Why bother! Now he has his own, “Holy shit!” moment. Faster than you can say, “Lindsey Graham has no more spine than a tape worm,” he realizes he might want to hear from witnesses. 

Graham tweets: “If there is a desire and decision by the Senate to call Democratic witnesses, then at a minimum the Senate should allow President @realDonaldTrump to call all relevant witnesses he has requested.” 

Sen. Mitt Romney, a solitary voice of GOP reason, offers up a dose of hope for real patriots. “I think it’s increasingly likely that other Republicans will join those of us who think we should hear from John Bolton,” he tells reporters. He makes it clear he believes Bolton’s testimony is “relevant.” “It’s important to be able to hear from John Bolton for us to be able to make an impartial judgment.” 

No way of knowing, but you figure Trump starts cussing about Romney the moment he hears this.

 

We do know the president grabs his phone repeatedly during the day and bangs away on Twitter. “The Democrat controlled House never even asked John Bolton to testify,” he claims at one point. “It is up to them, not up to the Senate!” 

Okay. That’s wrong. Meaning Trump is both a liar and an idiot. The Senate has a history of calling witnesses; and his own lawyer sent a letter to the House of Representatives saying Trump would defy all subpoenas for witnesses and documents. 

Soon after, Trump issues this plaintive tweet: “READ THE TRANSCRIPTS.” 

If you do, you will notice right away. Trump calls on President Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.

 

Now, Bolton is prepared to say his boss tied the investigations to the military aid. Proof of the quid pro quo. 

Senate Leader McConnell announces that he is going to the doctor to be treated for wax buildup in his ears.

 

* 

A CONCERTED EFFORT begins on Fox News and in Trump-ass-kissing circles to paint Bolton as the problem, not the president. 

Senator Cornyn appears on Fox and questions the timing of the release of Bolton’s bombshell book. Um…the pertinent question is: Is what he’s going to say in his book the truth or not? 

On Fox Business, Maria Bartiromo, normally all in on her love for capitalism, hints that Bolton is lying in order “to sell a book.” 

Sen. John Hawley, who hasn’t read it yet, insists that Bolton’s entire account is “a bunch of hearsay.” 

Such as: he heard the president say Ukraine would not get the aid until they did the investigations? 

White House Press Secretary Grisham – who, like her boss has perfected the art of not holding press briefings – hints that conspiracy is afoot. The same publisher who put out former F.B.I. Director James Comey’s book is handling Bolton’s. On close examination, even that claim proves incorrect. The publishers are different.

 

As Vox notes, the stupidest comment of all comes from the stupidest Trump defender, Rep. Jim Jordan. “Coming out at this late hour,” Jordan growled, “Is a kinda typical move from the Democrats.” 

Bolton, of course, has never been a Democrat. In fact, the ultimate irony might be that Bolton was once a well-paid laborer in the salt mines of right-wing political commentary. His employer: Fox News. 

His pay in 2017: $569,423. 

(You can watch panelists on Fox News’s The Five try to make it sound like Bolton is the crook in the story. You’ll probably need to keep a barf bag handy.)

* 

THE NEW coronavirus continues to spread, inside China and around the globe. There are now 4,000 confirmed cases, including five in the United States. CBS News reports that “there have been unconfirmed claims from anonymous health workers in China that many thousands more than their government is acknowledging could already be infected.” More than 50 million Chinese are under travel restrictions. The death toll rises to at least 106. At least one American, a man named Sam Roth, is trapped in Wuhan with his family, including an infant and a 5-year-old. The State Department says it has a limited ability to evacuate U.S. citizens from the area. International cruise ship operators suspend service. Airlines struggle to adjust to the threat. The World Health Organization says that the risk of the infection spreading rapidly is, “very high in China, high at the regional level and high at the global level.” 

Travel disruptions raise concerns for stock markets worldwide. “Consumption and travel will be the most affected, and to a lesser degree investment and industrial production,” says Tommy Wu, senior economist at Oxford Economics. “Travel and tourism across the region” may also be “adversely affected.” Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and The Philippines, which all rely on the Chinese tourism could be at risk. The Dow Jones average falls 430 points on Monday.

 

* 

APPARENTLY, the Trump administration has decided to go full-Chinese government censorship. A reporter for NPR, Michele Kelemen, is barred from flying on Secretary of Pompeo’s plane as he heads for Ukraine to meet with President Zelensky. 

It’s a petty response, since it was a different reporter for NPR who provoked Pompeo’s rage over the weekend. (See: 1/24/20.) 

 

POSTSCRIPT: Today I mailed this letter to Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, and several other Republicans who I thought, might show some spine.

 

                                                                                                                    January 27, 2020 

Dear Senator: 

It is with respect that I write to you and urge you to uphold your oath of office and protect the U.S. Constitution. 

In view of the latest revelations from former National Security Advisor John Bolton, it is imperative that witnesses and documents be subpoenaed by the Senate. You must act to protect the power of Congress to hold this president, especially, but all members of the executive branch and all future presidents accountable for any misdeeds. 

Having spent hours, watching witnesses come before the House committees and do their duty to speak the truth, under oath, I have almost no doubt that President Trump violated his oath of office. He put selfish personal interests above the welfare of both Ukraine, a key U.S. ally, but our nation, as well. As you well know, he refused to abide by any and all House subpoenas. 

Since the House concluded its work, as best it could in the face of Trump’s intransigence, there have been important developments. We know from emails, leaked in unredacted form, that Elaine McCusker, a Pentagon official, warned the White House that laws were likely being broken—and if the hold on aid continued would be broken. McCusker offered warning on August 5, August 9, August 12, August 26, August 28, September 1 and September 7. I assume you are at least as well informed as I am on this matter. The Congressional Budgeting Administration has since stated that laws were broken. Now Mr. Bolton backs up multiple witnesses who said it was their understanding that military aid was held up because the president demanded an investigation into one company in Ukraine, and one family, the Bidens.

 

Mr. Bolton is apparently ready to testify that he was told by President Trump that that was in fact the reason. 

It is possible, albeit highly unlikely, that additional witnesses might prove that Mr. Trump is innocent; and you need not vote to impeach and remove him from office to protect the U.S. Constitution. 

If you fail to assert your subpoena powers, you risk the entire system of checks and balances the Founding Fathers labored for so long and so hard to create. You stand by and allow a chief executive to subvert the rule of law. 

You must act, if for no other reason, than to assert the power of the legislative branch. 

                                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                                    John J. Viall

September 20, 2020: GOP Senators Suffer Mass Amnesia on Topic of U.S. Supreme Court

9/20/20: Apparently, Republicans in the U.S. Senate have suffered an attack of mass amnesia.

 

____________________ 

“The very balance of our nation’s highest court is in serious jeopardy.” 

Sen. David Perdue

____________________

 

 

With a chance to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, they prove unable to remember what they said in 2016. That was when President Obama nominated Merrick Garland for a seat left open by the death of Chief Justice Anton Scalia.

 

*

 

IN A VAIN EFFORT to refresh their memories, we provide a list compiled by the blogger’s friend, Constance Ida: 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas): “It has been 80 years since a Supreme Court vacancy was nominated and confirmed in an election year. There is a long tradition that you don’t do this in an election year.”

 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): “If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we’ll wait to the next election.”

 

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.): “I don’t think we should be moving on a nominee in the last year of this president’s term –  I would say that if it was a Republican president.”

 

Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.): 

The very balance of our nation’s highest court is in serious jeopardy. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will do everything in my power to encourage the president and Senate leadership not to start this process until we hear from the American people [emphasis added, unless noted otherwise].

 

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa): 

A lifetime appointment that could dramatically impact individual freedoms and change the direction of the court for at least a generation is too important to get bogged down in politics. The American people shouldn’t be denied a voice.  Do we want a court that interprets the law, or do we want a court that acts as an unelected super legislature?  This year is a tremendous opportunity for our country to have a sincere and honest debate about the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system of government.

 

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.): “It is essential to the institution of the Senate and to the very health of our republic, not to launch our nation into a partisan, divisive confirmation battle during the very same time the American people are casting ballots to elect our next president.”

Tillis reiterated in an August 2016 op-ed in USA Today, writing, “Voters – not a lame-duck president – should decide the composition of the highest court in the land. … This is about principle, not the person whom President Obama has nominated to fill the vacancy.”  

 

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.): “In this election year, the American people will have an opportunity to have their say in the future direction of our country. For this reason, I believe the vacancy left open by Justice Antonin Scalia should not be filled until there is a new president.”

 

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.): “The Senate should not confirm a new Supreme Court justice until we have a new president.”

 

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Col.): “I think we’re too close to the election. The president who is elected in November should be the one who makes this decision.”

 

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio): 

We are in the midst of a presidential election and a vigorous debate within both political parties on the direction of the country, with the election less than nine months away.  I believe the best thing for the country is to trust the American people to weigh in on who should make a lifetime appointment that could reshape the Supreme Court for generations.  This wouldn’t be unusual.  It is common practice for the Senate to stop acting on lifetime appointments during the last year of a presidential term, and it’s been nearly 80 years since any president was permitted to immediately fill a vacancy that arose in a presidential election year.

 

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama): “President Obama is attempting to solidify his liberal agenda by drastically changing the direction of the Court for decades to come. This critical decision should be made after the upcoming presidential election so that the American people have a voice.” 

 

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska): 

The decision to withhold advancement of Mr. Garland’s nomination isn’t about the individual, it’s about the principle. Alaskans, like all Americans, are in the midst of an important national election. The next Supreme Court justice could fundamentally change the direction of the Court for years to come. Alaskans deserve to have a voice in that direction through their vote, and we will ensure that they have one.

 

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.): “I strongly agree that the American people should decide the future direction of the Supreme Court by their votes for president and the majority party in the U.S. Senate.”

 

On February 13, 2016, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell had this to say about filling the seat on the highest court in the land: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.” 

(The next swearing in of a president was at that point, in a Leap Year, 342 days away.)

The Founding Fathers would not be amused.

 

* 

ALLOW ME, then, to repost what I wrote in the summer of 2019. There were already hints Justice Ginsburg’s health might force her to step down. Unlike our Republican friends in the U.S. Senate, I happen to have a memory span longer than a snail’s. 

 

My old post:

 

6/17/19: Sen. “Milksop” Mitch McConnell makes it clear. He’s not that interested in the U.S. Constitution. 

You may recall that in 2016, McConnell said he would not allow a Senate confirmation vote on Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s pick for a vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Obama was a “lame duck president.” His pick for the court came too close (March 16, 2016) to the presidential election. Milksop wasn’t going to allow a “lame duck” to fill a seat, even though the Constitution makes no exceptions, when filling judicial positions, for length of time left in a president’s term. 

Obama had (at the time of his nomination) ten months, four days, remaining in the White House.

 

“The American people are perfectly capable of having their say on this issue,” McConnell insisted. “So let’s give them a voice. Let’s let the American people decide. The Senate will appropriately revisit the matter when it considers the qualifications of the nominee the next president nominates whoever that might be.” 

What happened next? The American people did decide. The people gave Hillary Clinton 65.8 million votes. 

The people gave Donald Trump 63 million votes. 

The Electoral College gave Trump the win – as per the U.S. Constitution – but Milksop Mitch had never said, “Let’s give the Electoral College a voice.” 

The next election, in 2018, was a rout, with the people giving Democrats 59 million votes vs. 50.3 million for Republicans. 

So, the people had spoken. Twice. Mitch plugged his ears. Now he says if a vacancy opens on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020, he’ll allow Trump to nominate a person to fill it and Milksop will be sure his choice gets a vote.

 

“Lame duck” status won’t matter. If Ruth Bader Ginsburg retires from the Court on the morning of January 19, 2021, Trump will nominate son Eric to fill the vacancy and Milksop will hold hearings and a vote that afternoon. Trump could nominate a ventriloquist dummy to sit on the highest court and GOP senators would vote for the dummy. 

McConnell and the Republicans control the U.S. Senate because each state, no matter its population, gets two votes – again as the U.S. Constitution intended. The GOP picked up a pair of seats in the 2018 elections. 

Still, the people of the entire country spoke in 2018. Mitch hears only the “people” of certain states. 

And let’s remember what other leading Republicans said in 2016:

 

Sen. Charles Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee: “The American people shouldn’t be denied a voice.”

 

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan: “We should let the American people decide the direction of the court.”

 

Sen. John Cornyn: 

At this critical juncture in our nation’s history, Texans and the American people deserve to have a say in the selection of the next lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

 

The only way to empower the American people and ensure they have a voice is for the next President to make the nomination to fill this vacancy.

 

Sen. James Inhofe: 

Sens. Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid have all made statements that the Senate does not have to confirm presidential nominations in an election year. I will oppose this nomination as I firmly believe we must let the people decide the Supreme Court’s future.

 

Fair enough, to quote Democrats to support the case; but McConnell, Grassley, Ryan, Cornyn and Inhofe were arguing that “We the People” would have to have a voice in the coming election. 

Now, Milksop is arguing that the voice that counts was the Ghost of Elections Past, which smacks of craven hypocrisy.

 

* 

IN AN INTERVIEW five day later (June 24, 2019) Trump owned the hypocrisy. Screw the voice of the people! 

Would he pick a replacement for an opening on the highest court next year? 

“It depends,” he says. “I mean, we have the Senate. We have a great Senate. We have great people. If we could get him approved, I would definitely do it. No, I’d do it a lot sooner than that. I’d do it. If there were three days left, I’d put somebody up hoping that I could get ’em done in three days, OK?” 

Sure, if your goal is an increasingly authoritarian state.

November 18, 2020: Rep. Doug Young Gets COVID

 

11/18/20: Donald J. Trump, who lusts after a second term, is spending the end of his first in hiding.

 

Once again, he has no public events scheduled today.

 

*

Rep. Doug Young.

 

“It’s not nearly as deadly as the other viruses we have.”

 

SADLY, while the president hides and pouts, the corner he says we turned on COVID leads us right back down Infection Street.

 

In the last week, eight members of Congress have tested positive. At greatest risk may be Sen. Chuck Grassley, 87. The elderly Iowa Republican attended a meeting with other GOP leaders on Monday and tested positive Tuesday. Seven members of the House, Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., Don Young, R-Alaska, Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., Tim Walberg, R-Mich. and incoming Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, have also been infected. 

 

Rep. Young, also 87, and just re-elected for a 25^th term, has been one of those who insisted that it’s up to the individual to show responsibility and wear a mask. Young has been reluctant.

 

It was no surprise when he ended up in a hospital for three days. In fact, you could say Young went down swinging (and missing), after speaking to other Alaska seniors last week. “They call it the coronavirus. I call it the beer virus. How do you like that? It attacks us senior citizens. I’m one of you,” Young joked. “I still say we have to as a nation and state go forth with everyday activities.”

 

Yes, go forth with everyday activities, such as 911 calls, ambulance rides to the hospital, and trips to the morgue!

 

Young proved to be singularly ill-informed, telling his audience that the deadliness of the virus has been “blown out of proportion.” He insisted, “it’s not nearly as deadly as the other viruses we have. Whether you realize it or not, we are at war now,” he told his audience. “But mostly because of the presentations by the mass media.”

 

So, let’s see what the “mass media” is saying. According to experts at CDC: the U.S. piled up 164,382 cases of COVID-19 on November 17. And 1,602 Americans died as a result of “presentations by the mass media.”

 

Total deaths reported by the Center for Disease Control, from the “beer virus:”

 

247,834.

 

As far as his own bout of sickness, Rep. Young admitted Monday that it had been hard. “Very frankly,” he said in an email to a reporter, “I had not felt this sick in a very long time.” 

 

Young had gone forth with his “everyday activities,” including a birthday party at the Little Italy restaurant in Anchorage on Nov. 6, where he was photographed without a mask. Several prominent Republicans who attended, Young included, soon tested positive for the virus. Former Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell was another. “Well, I think I’m going to live,” Treadwell, 64, told Alaska Public Radio. “I’ve had a cough coming from pretty much every part of my respiratory system. And what is it now? Early afternoon. I want to go back to bed.”

 

So, “go forth with everyday activities,” American people. Maybe you can end up in the hospital for three days, like Rep. Young.

 

(Since he’s a member of Congress, we, the taxpayers, paid his bills.)

 

Or, as cases spiked across Alaska, you could listen to the warning issued by the governor instead. “No matter what you believe about the virus, the facts are the facts,” said Gov. Mike Dunleavy, also a Republican. “Hospitalizations and sick health-care workers are reaching untenable levels.”

 

 

POSTSCRIPT: Even many GOP lawmakers are taken aback by the president’s decision to fire Chris Krebs. (See: 11/17/20).

 

Sen. Shelly Moore Capito had intended to meet with the head of DHS cybersecurity on Wednesday. “I was going to tell him thank you for a good job,” she told reporters. “I’m still going to tell him that – just not today.”

 

Capito said she was “disappointed” and flummoxed by the president’s personnel decisions: “I can’t explain it.”

 

(I can: this is Trump being Trump, a giant dick acting like a giant dick.)

 

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called Trump’s move a “terrible mistake,” adding that Krebs is “an extraordinary talent who does a superb job overseeing the protection of our cyber capabilities.”

 

“It’s the president’s prerogative, but I think it just adds to the confusion and chaos,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, admitted to reporters. “And I’m sure I’m not the only one that would like some return to a little bit more of a – I don’t even know what’s normal anymore.”

May 22, 2021: Cyber Ninja Audit Drags - Right-Wing Lawmakers Clueless

 

5/22/21: If you watch right-wing news for amusement, no doubt you have heard of the big Arizona vote audit. According to the zany crew at One America News, and other far-right outlets, this recount of one county is going to blow the lid off the conspiracy to cheat Donald J. Trump out of 300 million votes, give or take fifty million. In other words, back that moving van up to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Joe Biden is leaving. Don and Melania are back, baby! (See: 5/19/21.)

Bamboo in the ballots???

 

____________________

 

“I feel like we’re in this fantasy land. I still have yet to see any evidence [of voter fraud], and I don’t think it’s coming.”

 

State Senator Paul Boyer, Arizona Republican

____________________

 

 

Unfortunately, as The Hill reported this week, even Arizona Republicans are growing weary of the antics of the Cyber Ninja crew, the organization hired to audit the vote in Maricopa County. 

First, the recount has dragged on longer than the Ninjas promised, and they’ve only counted a fourth of the votes. 

Second, they’ve been mocked mercilessly for their efforts to find bamboo in the ballot paper – which would “prove” that ballots were fake and shipped from China. Now former Arizona governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, has chimed in. “I think they should maybe just call it quits. I don’t think that it’s going to serve any purpose. It’s not going to change the election,” she said. “The votes have been certified. Biden is the president. It’s not changing. I say move on.” 

Apparently, Brewer doesn’t believe in bamboo bamboozling. Neither does current GOP governor Doug Ducey, who has insisted that the vote count in Arizona was accurate all along.

 

Even one Republican state senator, Sen. Paul Boyer, told The Hill he believes the audit has become an albatross for his party. 

“Who wouldn’t support an audit?” he asked rhetorically, while failing to mention that Maricopa had already conducted two official recounts. “But the way they’re doing it, it’s embarrassing,” he added. “It makes me embarrassed to be a state senator at this point. I feel like we’re in this fantasy land. I still have yet to see any evidence [of fraud], and I don’t think it’s coming.” 

Senate Leader Karen Fann, who initially insisted on the Cyber Ninja recount, has been forced to waltz away from her brainchild. 

This is partly due to the fact that the five members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors – which includes four member of her Republican party – have been threatening to file defamation suits against anyone who says the vote was fixed or that they conspired to break the law. Fann lamely admits, “I have said from the get-go I am relatively sure [we] weren’t going to find anything of any magnitude that would imply that any intentional wrongdoing was going on,” she told GOP lawmakers in a closed session earlier in the week. “I believe that we were going to find what we’ve known all along and some of the things is we could do a better job.” 

According to The Hill, this lame-ass recount idea is likely to cost the taxpayers of Arizona $3.3 million.

 

*

 

SPEAKING OF LAME-ASS, can we insist that all Republican lawmakers take at least a basic course in U.S. history? 

In just the last few days, Rep. Madison Cawthorn has asked right-wing believers to imagine, when General George Washington asked the British to “capitulate” at Yorktown in 1781, that he had been wearing a mask. 

Well, said Rep. Bonehead, “that’s not who we’re descended from.” 

Apparently, Rep. Bonehead was not aware that a large French fleet had chased away a British naval force protecting the supply lines of the 7,000 Redcoats penned at Yorktown. Nor did he seem aware that Gen. Washington might not have had a mask – but did have more than twice as many men as the British commander. We had the enemy surrounded on the land side, too. 

George could have shown up dressed as Martha and demanded that the British surrender and they would have had to raise a white flag.

 

Meanwhile, we had another Marjorie Taylor Greene sighting. The imbecilic lady from Georgia appeared on the Christian Broadcasting Network and said that Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s rule, requiring members of the U.S. House of Representatives to prove they had been vaccinated before appearing on the House floor, brought to mind the Holocaust. “You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star,” Greene babbled, “and they were definitely treated like second class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany. And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.” 

Yes, exactly! Minus the psychotic dictator, the trains full of prisoners crammed in cattle cars, the gas chambers and furnaces for bodies, the sadistic guards, the summary executions, the towers and barbed wire, the mass starvation, the use of slave labor, the tattoo numbers, the medical experiments on twins, the forced sterilization of gays, and death on an industrial scale.

 

Not to be denied a place in the limelight, Sen. John Cornyn decided to weigh in on news that Loser Don, while president, had made a habit of spying on reporters that had the nerve to criticize his policies or personal behavior. The new team at the Department of Justice released records this week to show that Team Trump gathered phone records and emails from reporters at the Washington Post, CNN, and other news outlets considered unfriendly.

That meant President Biden felt the need to address the matter and go on record to say that he would never spy on news outlets while president. 

Missing the simplest possible point – that we do not want government leaders spying on practitioners of the free press, no matter who those practitioners work for or what they say, because the free press helps keep check  on our leaders – Sen. Cornyn offered up this snarky tweet.