Here We Go Again
CNN just had Donald Trump on for an hour in front of a hand-picked audience of his fans. He was rude to the moderator, lied his head off, and then just for fun he defamed the woman who had just the day before won a multimillion-dollar defamation suit against him. The jury found that he had raped her and then lied about her, and now she is thinking about suing him again for lying about her on CNN. Everybody -- I mean everybody -- is hoping she does.
Why did CNN put him on? They can pretend this is normal. He is going to be a candidate for the Republican nomination and the country needs to hear blah blah blah. In previous elections all the networks, including CNN, gave him billions of dollars' worth of free air time, and guess what -- here we go again.
Of course the problem is, at root, the fact that a modern corporation like CNN only cares about its investors. It doesn't care about its customers, except insofar as the investors use audience share to decide whether to invest. It doesn't care about its employees, making them go through with these awful things. And the corporation does not, in particular, care about the future of the USA. They had hoped to get good ratings with this show, and they were pretty good for that time slot, but Trump's audience was significantly smaller than Biden's last town hall. This one didn't really pay off for them.
Here's what makes sense to me. What about we elect somebody who KNOWS HOW TO RUN A COUNTRY? Sorry to shout, not sorry. There are things that need to be done, and maybe I'm weird about this but we need somebody who knows how to run things, even if it is just a mumbling old man and not an orange reality-TV actor. Like -- remember? -- back in June, 2017, Trump announced his infrastructure plan. A trillion dollars, he said. Then Comey testified in Congress, some terrorists attacked London, the so-called "travel ban" became consumed in controversy and the infrastructure train ran off the tracks. Trump declared the week of June 5, 2017 to be "infrastructure week." Also the week of August 14, 2017. Also October 9, same year. Also the week of February 12, 2018. Oh and don't forget March 26, 2018. Followed by infrastructure week on April 29, 2019.
The result was, literally colorful firebrand that he is, he could not do this straightforward thing that everybody in both parties knew needed to be done. He could not negotiate a bill through Congress and sign it. There was no infrastructure bill, even though it was an extremely high priority and Trump's party had majorities in both houses of Congress.
In contrast, in his second year in office Joe Biden signed a $1.2 Trillion infrastructure bill in April 2022 that included (quoting from Forbes here:
- Roads and bridges: Headlining the 2,702-page bill’s spending, roughly $110 billion of new funds would go toward improving the nation's roads and bridges, and investments in other major transportation programs.
- Public transit: The package also includes the largest-ever federal investment in public transit, allotting $39 billion to modernize systems, improve access for the elderly and people with disabilities, and repair more than 24,000 buses, 5,000 railcars and thousands of miles of train tracks.
- Amtrak: The legislation marks the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago, with $66 billion earmarked for high-speed rail, safety improvements, Amtrak grants and modernization of the rail route connecting Washington, D.C., to Boston.
- Broadband internet: Tacking on to billions authorized by last year’s American Rescue Plan, the infrastructure bill includes $65 billion to bolster the country's broadband infrastructure and help ensure that every American has access to high-speed internet, with one in four households expected to be eligible for a $30-per-month subsidy to pay for internet access.
- Electric grid and energy: Though many clean-energy measures were cut from the bill to satisfy spending-weary lawmakers, a $108 billion investment will help upgrade the nation’s electricity grid, with thousands of miles of new transmission lines and funds for environmentally friendly smart-grid technology.
- Electric cars, buses and ferries: In addition to $7.5 billion for the nation’s first network of electric-vehicle chargers along highway corridors, lawmakers have shored up $5 billion for zero-emission buses (including thousands of electric school buses) and $2.5 billion for ferries.
- Clean drinking water: Following high-profile water-supply crises plaguing cities like Flint, Michigan, the legislation includes a provision for $55 billion to replace all the nation's lead pipes and service lines, representing the largest investment in clean drinking water ever.
- Great rivers and lakes: Among the bill's more than $50 billion for water infrastructure improvements, about $1 billion is slated to go toward the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a sweeping clean-up measure targeting toxic hot spots—or areas of heavy industrial pollution—around the Great Lakes region, and $17 billion will be allocated to ports and waterways.
- Airports: More than $25 billion has been allocated to help modernize America's airports—funds the Airports Council International says will help tackle more than $115 billion worth of project backlogs.
- Road safety: The deal invests $11 billion in transportation safety programs, including a new program to help states and localities reduce crashes and fatalities in their communities, particularly among cyclists and pedestrians.
- Normal funding: In addition to the $550 billion in new investments, the package also includes roughly $650 billion in previously authorized funding for roads and other infrastructure, including nearly $300 billion for the Highway Trust Fund and $90 billion for public transit over the next five years.
And that's just one bill of many.
So, you see what I'm saying. Why would you vote for a guy who is not only an indicted criminal with many more charges coming including probably espionage, a serial and unapologetic rapist ("unfortunately or fortunately"), a liar, and who does not have the skills to put together a White House staff and get any legislation passed and signed? Why would you vote for that? Is it because he says mean things about liberals? Is that what you're looking for in a CEO for the United States of America?
Hang on to your horses, people. Our billionaires -- and why don't we call them oligarchs? -- want Trump in the White House because they know how to get him to do what they want: give him money, easy. Our oligarchs can spend the money on the media to get people to believe anything. So the sensible people of this country are going to have to grip the arms of their chairs, grit their teeth, and hold on until we go to the polls, and hopefully they haven't had the sense bled out of them by then.
posted by JimK at 8:03 AM
99 Comments:
The guy who usually posts the jobs reports didn't this time... I wonder why.
April 2023 Jobs Report: Good News for Almost Everyone
Unemployment remains low and hiring eases as more workers enter the labor force.
Nick Bunker May 5, 2023
Key points:
Employers added 253,000 jobs and unemployment declined to 3.4% in April, according to the latest report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Not only was unemployment low, but more workers are entering the labor force. The participation rate for workers ages 25 to 54 is the highest since March 2008, a few months before Bush crashed the economy.
Payroll growth is declining, but the current pace of job gains is still more than strong enough to keep the unemployment rate low.
There’s good news for every audience in this jobs report. Workers will be happy that unemployment remains low, and those out of work are still able to find jobs quickly. Employers will be pleased that labor force participation continues to grow, particularly for prime-age workers. And policymakers at the Federal Reserve will be comforted by the gradual cooldown in the pace of hiring. The US labor market is on a smooth trajectory, but turmoil in the financial market could cause turbulence.
This labor market continues to work for workers. Unemployment is very low, but the continued progress in enticing people into the workforce is perhaps more encouraging. The labor force participation rate for workers ages 25 to 54 hit a level previously seen in March 2008, and the last time the employment rate for these workers was this high was May 2001. The number of workers who were unemployed because they had recently lost a job dropped in April, reversing a concerning rise seen in recent months.
Payroll job gains continued to moderate, with the three-month moving average ticking down to 222,000 in April, less than half of what it was a year ago. The slowing job gains might concern some people, but this rate of growth is well above the level needed to keep the unemployment rate steady. Furthermore, the slowdown in hiring will encourage monetary policymakers that the labor market continues to shift into a better balance.
No jobs report is perfect. The continued decline in temporary-help-services employment may start tripping some traditional recession alarm bells, but given the rapid pace of hiring in recent years, it may simply be another sign of moderation. Workers, employers, and policymakers should be encouraged about the current state of affairs, but it’s unclear how much longer it can endure.
George Takei on Mastodon:
Title 42 ended, but because the Biden Administration planned ahead and is actually competent, we didn’t see a crush of migrants streaming across the border.
The media, probably: “Border crossings are surprisingly lower. Here’s how that’s bad for the White House.”
While people change and learn throughout life, experts recognize that certain formative periods, known as developmental windows, are crucial for acquiring particular skills. For example, using vocalizations and words to interact with people in the first few years of life is critical for children's language learning.
A recent study by an international team from UCLA, Romania and Israel suggests there may be a developmental window for reasoning skills as well—the first 25 years of life—and that a person's social, political and economic environment strongly influences how they acquire these skills. Their findings are published in the journal PLOS One.
The researchers found that following the collapse of Romania's authoritarian communist regime in 1989, the rapid increase in education and technology use and the transition from a single, government-controlled source of information to diverse sources had a strong effect on the way people, particularly younger generations, thought about and determined truthfulness, a process known as "epistemic thinking."
Epistemic thinking runs the gamut from absolutist thinking, the belief that only one claim can be right, to multiplist thinking, the belief that more than one claim could be right—it's just a matter of opinion. Finally, evaluativist thinking posits that assertions can be evaluated in terms of both logic and evidence.
"Whether we are monitoring various news sources or scrolling through a busy Twitter feed, we are constantly encountering diverse viewpoints about topics ranging from politics to films," said the study's first author, Amalia Ionescu, a doctoral student in psychology at UCLA. "Some of these topics carry infinitely more weight than others, but ultimately, we are using the same sort of mechanism when deciding how to make sense of contrasting viewpoints."
In the U.S., developmental psychology research has shown that children typically think in absolutist terms, then progress to multiplist thinking and sometimes, particularly with a relatively high level of education and exposure to various experiences and points of view, emerge as evaluativist adults. The study authors hypothesized that in a society ruled by an authoritarian government, with strict control over information, limited education and little exposure to the outside world, absolutist thinking would be more prevalent. Conversely, in an open, democratic society, there would likely be a higher occurrence of evaluativist thinking.
To test this, they focused on Romania, which in the late 1940s became communist and aligned itself with the Soviet Union. Beginning in 1965, under the authoritarian leadership of Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romania became increasingly repressive and isolated. After Ceaușescu was overthrown in 1989, the country quickly moved toward democracy, embraced a market economy and joined the European Union. Today, Romanians have a developing education system and open access to technology, social media, consumer goods and travel.
How, the researchers asked, may this transition have affected Romanians' epistemic thinking? Focusing on three age cohorts—those born after the democratic revolution (18–30 years old), those who spent their late adolescence and early adulthood under the authoritarian regime (45–59) and those who spent at least 45 years under the authoritarian regime (75 and older)—the authors presented respondents with scenarios in which two characters had contrasting views. They then asked the respondents: Which character is right? Or are both of them right? Why?
They found that there was a greater occurrence of absolutist thinking among those who had experienced the transition to democracy in middle age rather than at an earlier period of life.
The vast majority of those 75 or older tended to read or listen to the news and instantly take it as truth, "possibly because for most of their lives, they had only one TV program to watch, and all books, news, movies and music were under communist censorship," said co-author Raluca Furdui, a master's student at Romania's West University of Timișoara. "They learned to respect the authority of the teachers in schools, and some never even had the chance to go to high school.
"In contrast," Furdui said, "we, the youngest generation in our study—currently between 18 and 30—were challenged by our teachers to express our opinions, think critically and check information."
The researchers found that evaluativism was most common among this youngest generation, which also had the highest education levels. Lower levels of both formal education and social media use predicted higher levels of absolutist thinking and lower levels of evaluativism.
The study authors concluded that the developmental window for epistemic thinking is open during the first 25 years of life, after which it slowly closes, and a person's epistemic thinking style will change little later in adulthood.
"We found that the social environment produced by a combination of democracy and a market economy more frequently led people to abandon the assumption that there is one right answer and to evaluate multiple possibilities—when one was born into this environment or when it was experienced in the first 25 years of life" rather than in middle age or beyond, said co-author Patricia Greenfield, a UCLA distinguished professor of psychology. "We found that there is indeed a sensitive developmental period for acquiring cultural ways of thinking."
The 'open information' pendulum can swing the opposite way too
The authors also said they believe their findings can help explain why unfettered access to information, social media and a plethora of personal opinions can sometimes lead in the opposite direction—toward absolutist thinking and authoritarian politics.
"Along with the rise of the internet and social media, there has been, in the United States, a rise in the importance of personal opinion, along with a decline in the importance of agreed-upon facts," Greenfield said.
And while the trend toward increasing sources of information and opinions in Romania has been associated with the democratization and opening up of society, in the U.S., the indiscriminate application of the principle that everyone has a right to their own opinion has led to information silos and absolutist thinking.
"In Romania, the transition from authoritarianism to democracy was related to a decline in absolute thinking and a rise in evaluation as a form of thought," said co-author Michael Weinstock, an associate professor of education at Israel's Ben Gurion University of the Negev. "But based on our research, one would predict that that the opposite change in the environment—towards more authoritarianism—would lead to the opposite direction of change towards more absolutist thinking."
Changes in the authoritarian direction happened in the U.S. under the Trump administration, the study authors said, and have recently been happening in other countries around the world.
"Why would you vote for a guy who is not only an indicted criminal with many more charges coming including probably espionage, a serial and unapologetic rapist ("unfortunately or fortunately"), a liar, and who does not have the skills to put together a White House staff and get any legislation passed and signed? Why would you vote for that? Is it because he says mean things about liberals? Is that what you're looking for in a CEO for the United States of America?"
I agree that no sane individual would for this guy at this point.
Still, a few facts:
"an indicted criminal"
he hasn't been convicted of anything
"a serial and unapologetic rapist"
in the most compelling case, a jury in a civil case, which has a lower threshold of proof than a criminal trial, did not find him guilty of rape
let's all hope (and pray), Dems and GOP alike, that Republicans are able to nominate an alternative
Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
Pray all you want, like I'm sure you do after school shootings. It won't do a damn thing.
If you don't want him to be the Republican nominee, you'll have to convince other conservatives not to vote for him. Democrats are doing everything the can to convince everyone he's not a viable candidate - at the very least - and are trying to hold him accountable for his numerous crimes. Republicans had two great opportunities to do that at his impeachments, but they thought he would still be useful for them, regardless of the damage he did to our country.
You can spend your time trying to spread your BS here, where no one buys it but yourself; or you can spread some truth to your right-wing colleagues and hope they learn something.
"Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation."
but, tellingly, not rape - even though civil trials have lower standards of evidence
"Pray all you want, like I'm sure you do after school shootings. It won't do a damn thing."
interesting you would say that when also claiming to teach facts
fact is, there were no public school shootings back when there was a daily prayer in public schools
now, no prayer
and many school shootings every year
ever wonder why?
"If you don't want him to be the Republican nominee, you'll have to convince other conservatives not to vote for him."
frankly, I have since the beginning
I have always advocated for another candidate
he may have been the lesser of evils when the other choice was Hillary and Joe but, with the Supreme Court back to defending the Constitution, that no longer applies
"Democrats are doing everything the can to convince everyone he's not a viable candidate - at the very least - and are trying to hold him accountable for his numerous crimes"
another failure of fact
Democrats are doing everything "the" can to assure he's the candidate
they know Biden won't win agin' any other
"Republicans had two great opportunities to do that at his impeachments,"
he actually didn't do anything meriting impeachment
that doesn't mean he should be President
Dems should stop playing games and present a serious case
After five years, Durham did not uncover "the crime of the century," as Trump called it. He charged three people. Two were found innocent in court and one pled guilty to avoid a prison sentence. The report included Durham's opinion critical of the FBI (that far-left radical liberal organization) but he did not find anybody breaking any law.
"fact is, there were no public school shootings back when there was a daily prayer in public schools
now, no prayer
and many school shootings every year
ever wonder why?"
Wow, with that kind of reasoning skill, people are going to wonder what your favorite flavor of crayon is.
First of all, there has never really been a period of no school shootings in the US:
https://www.k12academics.com/school-shootings/history-school-shootings-united-states
They did take a noticeable uptick though after Ronnie Raygun took office, and started the country down a road toward a Christian Nationalist state that we still haven't recovered from. "Freedom," "guns," and "the bible" have become intertwined in a sick nationalist fervor that has decided anyone who doesn't side with them is godless and communist, and out to destroy America - especially the gays.
Putin himself couldn't have come up with a better strategy to divide Americans against each other, and the Republican party uses it as their main platform to whip up their voters.
"he actually didn't do anything meriting impeachment"
It's that kind of apologist thinking that allows dictators to gain a foothold in the first place. Instead of banning books, Republicans should be reading more of them - especially those regarding history and the rise of Hitler to understand how he used patriotic, nationalist and religious rhetoric, along with a small cabal of violent and fervent followers to destroy Europe's biggest democracy in the 1930's.
You do know that some of the Jan 6 thugs were convicted of seditious conspiracy, right? And that some of those folks were meeting with Roger Stone - Rumpie's political mentor in the hours before the insurrection, right? Or were you too busy munching on crayons?
Did you even hear about the fake elector scheme? Or what's going on in Georgia with that?
"Dems should stop playing games and present a serious case"
Funny you should say that on the same day we get news that John Durham's HUGE investigation for Bill Barr and Donnie Trump came out as a big nothing burger with NO ONE new to charge with a crime. The 2 people he previously tried to indict were unanimously acquitted.
So much for trying to paint Obama and Hilary as wild, renegade politicians out to stick it to the Republican savior.
And after years of bleating about Hunter's laptop, you guys still haven't managed to find anything to arrest a Biden for. Plenty of grist for your conspiracy theories though.
CNN's ratings now are worse than NewsMax, whatever that is. Their sharp right turn is really working for them.
I am sitting in a hipster coffee shop reading the morning paper, and I can't believe my eyes. They're saying right here that America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is a creep and a drunk and a crook. Is that possible?
"Wow, with that kind of reasoning skill, people are going to wonder what your favorite flavor of crayon is."
well, it's not just correlation, cause-and-effect are also easy to see
"First of all, there has never really been a period of no school shootings in the US"
I should have said "mass random shootings in pre-college public schools", which is where there was once daily prayer
"It's that kind of apologist thinking that allows dictators to gain a foothold in the first place"
apologist?
Dems couldn't even decide on plausible charges for the first impeachment, the second contained no proof
perhaps you should read the articles of impeachment
"Instead of banning books, Republicans should be reading more of them"
can you show us an instance of Republicans banning books?
usually, the liberal fringe means by this, determining appropriate reading material in public schools for minors
in which case, liberals have endless lists of things they don't think chidren should be exposed to
you don't mind being a hypocrite, do you?.
"the same day we get news that John Durham's HUGE investigation...
So much for trying to paint Obama and Hilary as wild, renegade politicians...you guys still haven't managed to find anything to arrest a Biden for"
the creation of the Russian hoax and Hunter selling access to his father while VP are serious matters even if they aren't prosecutable
Durham showed the first occurred
as for Hunter, multiple criminal investigations are ongoing
Durham was supposed to uncover a covert "deep state" attempt by the FBI to overthrow Trump. He got one tiny conviction, for a guy who changed a line in an email, otherwise everyone he charged was found innocent. All he could do in the end was criticize the FBI and complain -- his opinion is like everybody else's. His investigation was a failure, no conspiracy was found, no one was charged. He had to shoot his mouth off to fend off embarrassment. That's what ya got.
"Dems couldn't even decide on plausible charges for the first impeachment, the second contained no proof"
And yet Mitch McConnell said this about the 2nd one:
"There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president," he said, "and having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth."
"He did not do his job. He didn't take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed and order restored. No. Instead, according to public reports, he watched television happily — happily — as the chaos unfolded," he said. "Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President Pence was in serious danger."
If anyone else had put the Vice President in enough danger that he and his family had to go running away surrounded by a bunch of Secret Service agents, they would have been sent to federal prison.
As you say, "well, it's not just correlation, cause-and-effect are also easy to see."
If prayer can somehow magically reduce school shootings, then Rumpie is certainly capable of telling enough lies to whip up a bunch of conservative idiots to storm the Capitol. Even Mitch could see that.
And the seditious conspirators said as much, under oath, in their self-defense before their convictions.
I've NEVER heard a school shooter claim the lack of praying in schools caused him to go on a murder spree.
Obviously, you have a very tenuous grasp on "cause and effect."
If you've got a couple hours, read this: Links between Trump associates and Russian officials
In contrast, special counsel Robert Mueller’s team indicted or got guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies.
"Durham was supposed to uncover a covert "deep state" attempt by the FBI to overthrow Trump."
He was actually supposed to uncover a covert "deep state" attempt to nullify the results of the 2016 election by making false claims and hindering the work of the Trump administration.
That, he did.
The FBI lacked "actual evidence" to investigate Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and relied too heavily on tips provided by Trump's political opponents to fuel the probe, U.S. Special Counsel John Durham concluded in a report released on Monday.
"All he could do in the end was criticize the FBI"
It's what he criticized them for that is the issue. Using such techniques, the deep state could nullify any election they don't like and control the country. We actually need legislation to address the issues uncovered by Durham.
"-- his opinion is like everybody else's"
sure, just like anybody who interviewed witnesses and subpoenaed evidenced.
"special counsel Robert Mueller’s team indicted or got guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies"
as prosecutorial abuse to pressure witnesses to give testimony that didn't lead anywhere
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in March 2019, concluded there was no evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
In his new 306-page report, Durham concluded that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement did not possess any "actual evidence" of collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia prior to launching Crossfire Hurricane.
He also accused the bureau of treating the 2016 Trump probe differently from other politically sensitive investigations, including several involving Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
For instance, he said Clinton and other officials received defensive briefings about being the possible targets of foreign interference, whereas Trump received no such briefing before the FBI opened probes into four members of his campaign.
"The Department and the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report," Durham wrote
"If prayer can somehow magically reduce school shootings"
nothing magical about it
focusing on a moral Creator tends to reduce immoral behavior
"I've NEVER heard a school shooter claim the lack of praying in schools caused him to go on a murder spree."
ever hear them talk about God at all?
if they took God seriously, they would never kill
Durham didn't find anything. He didn't approve of the way the FBI did its work, and in fact the FBI has already addressed those shortcomings. None of this was new or required years of investigation.
In the end, one chump -- an Assistant General Counsel in the National Security and Cyber Law Branch of the FBI’s Office of General Counsel -- at the FBI got in trouble for changing an email address on FISA application so he could work it through the bureaucracy faster. Then when he was asked about it, he lied. He was given probabtion and disbarred for a year.
Other than that, nothing. Durham wasted everybody's money and time for absolutely nothing. No convictions at all regarding the "crime of the century."
Threats of violence against the LGBTQIA+ community are on the rise and intensifying, according to a new briefing by the Department of Homeland Security.
The DHS document, distributed to government and law enforcement agencies on May 11, said that domestic violence extremists and people who commit hate crimes have increased threats of violence against the LGBTQIA+ community within the last year.
“These issues include actions linked to drag-themed events, gender-affirming care, and LGBTQIA+ curricula in schools," DHS said.
DHS said that the issues inspiring threats and calls of violence against the LGBTQIA+ community could lead to a rise of potential attacks against larger targets, such as public spaces and healthcare sites that may be linked to the community.
DHS analysts also cite social media chatter celebrating the recent mass shooting at a Nashville church school.
“High-profile attacks against schools and faith-based institutions like the recent shooting in Nashville have historically served as inspiration for individuals to conduct copycat attacks," DHS said.
In recent months, politicians in Tennessee, Florida and other Republican-run states have introduced legislation that critics say targets the LGBTQIA+ community.
In March 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by detractors.
The bill banned classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. Last month, the Florida Board of Education expanded those restrictions to include all grades. In March, Tennessee became the first state to restrict public drag performances.
HB 9 and SB 3, signed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, make "a person who engages in an adult cabaret performance on public property" -- or where it can be viewed by minors -- a criminal offense.
Last month, a federal judge temporarily blocked the law, saying it was vaguely written and overly broad, according to AP.
At least 14 states have passed laws or policies that restrict gender-affirming care for people under the age of legal majority, which is the threshold for legal adulthood.
According to DHS, about 20% of all hate crimes reported throughout the country in 2021 were motivated by bias linked to sexual orientation and gender, citing the FBI's hate crime statistics.
The Republicans finally have proof, real proof that Joe Biden and the entire Biden Crime Family have been taking millions of dollars in bribes from China and also Romania, or maybe it's the other way around. They had a big press conference last week to tell us how big this is, but delayed offering any actual evidence.
No, wait, just a minute, this just in: 'We can't track down the informant': James Comer says he lost top witness in Biden investigation. They had an informant, but he has disappeared. There were a couple of whistleblowers but now: MTG Confirms Nearly ALL the GOP’s Biden Corruption Informants Are ‘Missing’. "The GOP has lost contact with nearly all of the “whistleblowers” in their ongoing investigation into Joe Biden, Marjorie Taylor Greene confirmed Monday..."
How did a little mouse know this was going to happen?
Today is the Anniversary of the Brown v. Board 1954 decision.
The 1954 Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision remains a celebration of justice and inclusion.
This landmark case serves as a reminder of the hard work required to create a country where everyone can thrive and the important role that our federal courts play.
Federal judges - from the Supreme Court to district courts - must work for all of us, not just the wealthy and powerful.
The new face of the Republican Party, Ron DeSantis, ought to win the presidential nomination for this clever anti-woke maneuver. Ron DeSantis Is Giving Away Florida Pension Money to Wall Street Donors
"Florida governor Ron DeSantis has been putting huge sums of state retirement money into underperforming private equity firms that have donated to his campaign efforts."
Man, that is poster-child Republicanism right there. To beat that you'd almost have to have a son-in-law taking billions of dollars from a foreign country after you shared classified US information with them, or something.
"Our review found that had the state pension fund instead been invested in a simple, low-cost index fund, compared to its present mix of holdings, teachers, police officers, and other state employees would have about $10 billion more in their retirement funds."
Little Mouses are squeaking about this one. After Jan. 6, reports emerged of Trump supporters’ efforts to gain access to voting systems and software in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Colorado. Many assumed these incidents were unconnected, and new information was still coming in as the January 6th Committee was winding up its work, so the topic did not receive much attention. But a recent report shows that that the schemes went all the way to the top, to Trump himself, who was president at the time. Also, new evidence uncovered by plaintiffs in a Georgia lawsuit indicates that these incidents were part of the broader scheme to falsely cast doubt on, and overturn, the 2020 election.
Caitlyn Jenner has said the number of people openly identifying as transgender is "skyrocketing" at a "disturbing" rate, blaming "indoctrination" and an "oversaturation of the topic."
Jenner, who ran in a 2021 race to replace California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, remains a committed Republican.
The 1976 Olympic gold medalist, who came out as transgender in 2015, has been an outspoken critic of transgender women competing in sports against other women.
Jenner stepped efforts in April by announcing the launch of an initiative called Fairness First. The political action committee describes itself as "a big tent movement, non-partisan in nature, with the intention of protecting women and girls in sport—especially in light of recent events with radical gender ideology."
The National Archives is set to hand over 16 records to Special Counsel Jack Smith showing Trump and his close presidential advisers had knowledge of correct declassification process while in office.
The search warrant explicitly stated the DOJ was investigating "items illegally possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 793, 2071 , or 1519." 18 U.S. Code § 793 is from the Espionage Chapter of Title 18.
18 U.S. Code Chapter 37 - ESPIONAGE”
Every single House Republican voted today to protect disgusting indicted con artist fraudster George Santos from expulsion.
Let's see ya defend that. The Republican is incapable of telling the truth, and the rest are backing him up.
Us mouses were giggling over our cheese breakfast today, looking at the headlines in the Drudge Report:
"DeSantis signs bills targeting drag shows, use of bathrooms and pronouns, MORE...
Plans to officially enter presidential race next week..."
Minnie says to me and the kids, and the other mouses and their kids, and their kids and their kids -- we have a big family -- "Mick, is it possible that the Republicans are so fuckin' dumb, they think a president's job is monitoring drag queens and pronouns?"
I said, "Min, honey, I think they're even dumber than that -- they think that talking about drag shows and bathrooms makes 'em look smart. Otherwise, they don't got nuthin."
Rising number of Americans are switching religions
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they used to follow a different religious tradition or denomination than the one they practice now — a percentage that keeps growing, a new survey says.
Why it matters: The jump in religion-switching comes as many Americans say they no longer believe in their initial religion's teachings — or, in many cases, disagree with a religion's stance against LGBTQ+ people.
More Americans also are turning away from Christianity and are seeing themselves as unaffiliated with any religion or as religious "nones," even as some conservative Republicans seek to inject more religion into schools and public life.
By the numbers: The nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute survey of people across the country found that a quarter of Americans (24%) say they've changed religious traditions or denominations over their lifetime or recently.
That's a 50% jump from 2021, when 16% said they had switched, the survey found.
People who are members of other non-Christian religions (38%) or religiously unaffiliated (37%) were the most likely to say that they had switched from a different religious tradition.
About one in four Protestants of color (28%), white evangelical Protestants (25%), and Hispanic Protestants (24%) say they previously practiced or followed another religious tradition.
The intrigue: The survey found that the Catholic Church [known for its anti-abortion stance] had lost the highest percentage of followers (39%) to the group without a religious affiliation.
Non-evangelical Protestants (28%) lost the second-most members.
Between the lines: A 2022 survey by PRRI's American Values Atlas found that only 64% of Americans identify as Christian — and the percentage has been dropping.
That PRRI survey says nearly 27% of the general public is now unaffiliated with any religion — the fastest-growing segment.
Zoom in: Among those who switched, 56% said they changed because they stopped believing in the religion's teachings.
About 30% said negative religious teachings about or treatment of LGBTQ+ people forced them to change.
Only 17% said they switched because their church or congregation became too political.
Yes, but: Most churchgoers (56%) do not believe their current church is more divided by politics than it was five years ago, the study found.
Only 13% say that their church is more politically divided.
White non-evangelical Protestants (17%) and Catholics (17%) are the most likely to indicate that their churches are more divided by politics.
What they're saying: "There's essentially kind of a paradox happening. On the one hand, there is more religious churning. There are also more people in America who are becoming less religious, " PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman told Axios.
"Among Americans who still go to church on a regular basis, they still seem to be pretty happy with what's happening in their churches."
Bottom line: Members of Gen Z — now ages 11 to 26 — are switching and shunning religion faster as young adults than other Americans. That's expected to continue.
Methodology: The Health of Congregations Survey was conducted Aug. 9-30 by PRRI. The poll is based on a representative sample of 5,872 adults (age 18 and older) living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia who are part of Ipsos' Knowledge Panel®.
The margin of sampling error is ±1.86 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample.
"Rising number of Americans are switching religions"
they have a right to
the Constitution, that TTFers are not fond of, guarantees freedom of religion
"Nearly a quarter of Americans say they used to follow a different religious tradition or denomination than the one they practice now "
which would tend to make religion stronger
because this means people in religious groups are true believers rather than just taking the path of east resistance
"Why it matters: The jump in religion-switching comes as many Americans say they no longer believe in their initial religion's teachings"
which would tend to make religion stronger
because this means people in religious groups are true believers rather than just taking the path of east resistance
"— or, in many cases, disagree with a religion's stance against LGBTQ+ people"
really? how many cases?
if you only pay attention to the media-entertainment-liberal complex, you'd think America is obsessed with homosexuality
it isn't
"More Americans also are turning away from Christianity and are seeing themselves as unaffiliated with any religion or as religious "nones,""
which would tend to make religion stronger
because this means people in religious groups are true believers rather than just taking the path of east resistance
"even as some conservative Republicans seek to inject more religion into schools and public life."
the Constitution, that TTFers are not fond of, guarantees freedom of religion
Americans should be free to inject more religion into schools and public life
Somebody is a little unclear about how this "whistleblower" thing works. It's not usually a paid position.
REPORTER: Today's hearing is about how the FBI is politicized, but do you think it's appropriate for some of these whistleblowers to be paid by one of Trump's former advisers?
JIM JORDAN: They got a family! How are they supposed to feed their family?
The doomsday scenario some feared post Title 42 has not yet come. Remember, millions of immigrants were said to be massed to swarm over the border into this country. Senators' speeches were already written: "Biden wants to open the borders and let anybody come into this country." Talking points were lying on office printers across Washington DC.
Why have the numbers gone down?
"We hear a lot of rumors...some people are being deported. We really don’t know exactly what is going on."
Hee-hee. Maybe the OG knows what he's doing. Pass the cheese, please.
Mike Pence tells Fox "I like Walt Disney, not Woke Disney."
Silence falls over the mouse family as they gaze in awe at the television. Grandpa Mouse breaks the silence. "Wow, this guy is one tough hombre. What's the name again -- Pants? Tents? What'd they say?"
"It's Pence, Grandpa," a Little Mouse says. "He's the one they wanted to hang, remember?"
Grandpa ruminates. "Hang? Oh yeah. Well, this Dyke Pants guy really means business," he says. "He's a heavy hitter, no doubt. A serious politician. I like him."
The Air Force, having the usual percentage of LGBT people in it, issued a memo calling for observance of Pride Month. For instance, one base, Robins Air Force Base in Georgia announced a "Pride Game Night" on June 10, a Unity in Diversity Color Run on June 16, and a panel discussion titled "Our History, Our time!" on June 28th. Their advertisement states "ALL ARE WELCOME!!"
In response, Republican Congressman Chip Roy told Fox News, "If DOD doesn’t put a stop to these kinds of divisive -- and frankly embarrassing -- DOD events, Republicans should pull support for this year's [National Defense Authorization Act]."
On one hand, the military budget for the year; on the other, some games, a run, a lecture. By Republican logic it makes sense to throw out our entire national defense if it hurts the gays.
Why are they so interested in gay people, anyway? We're too little to donate to campaigns, but most mellow Little Mouses agree that Republicans should take a "wider stance" on the topic.
Reading here in the Mousington Post:
"As the laws in this country become more extreme and non-evidence based, the United States is becoming more of a pariah on the global stage" in terms of access to safe abortions using methods recommended by experts, said [research scientist] Moore. "Countries that may have previously [looked] to the United States as a role model are now looking at the United States askance and saying, 'We can do better than that. This is what not what we know to be good for reproductive health.'"
"...decisions like those in Uganda and the United States fall outside the direction of a clear global trend."
Republicans believe we can learn a lot from Uganda. Great place, they say, a real model for the future of a Christian America.
George Santos
Al Franken
That is all.
Divisive (pronunciation undetermined). adj. Any situation or event where straight white Christian men are not the center of attention.
Gym Jordan's proceedings were intended to embarrass the bureau, but they only revealed the FBI’s accusers and their allies to be corrupt fools. Jordan hid transcripts from committee members, downplayed the fact that some of his witnesses have been paid by a member of Donald Trump’s team, and pretended his so-called "whistleblowers" don’t have serious credibility problems.
A Little Mouse predicted that. Very smart, those Little Mouses. Gym Jordan, not so much.
Luckily Grandpa Mouse can't figure out how Twitter works. If he had, he could have seen what the Libertarian Party's official account tweeted this afternoon. They are in favor of child labor and opposed to education.
"In the workplace, a child will learn valuable skills they can’t apply elsewhere. At public schools, they learn to hate their parents and the very things that make them free."
Grandpa would agree with that. He would say, "Golldang kids need to get a job." Grandpa Mouse did not go to school. Starting as a kid, he worked a hard job with no pension plan, no health plan, no sick days. He says, "It was good enough for us, it's good enough for these squeaky tail-whippers today."
Marjorie Taylor Green and other Republicans are desperately *hoping* for a surge in migrants after Title 42. Now that it hasn't happened, they're simply pretending it has.
They would also like to destroy the country's economy and blame it on Biden. We shouldn't have to put up with this.
Hello everyone,
I'm just briefly stopping by to post a small discrete section of what I've been writing:
A Zygote or Fetus Is Not a Person
Many anti-choice people will insist that a pregnancy at any stage is a "person" or "human". This is manifestly untrue. Let's take a zygote, for example.
When we think of what a person is we think of certain features, abilities, and characteristics. A person can move, think, feel pain, feel pleasurable sensations, eat, laugh, love, hate, and make plans for the future (even if the future is only the next few seconds). By that universally accepted standard a zygote is in no way a person - it can do none of that, it is capable of nothing we think of a person being able to do. Now I hear some of you angrily insisting a zygote is human and I'll grant you that it's human in the same sense that one of my fingernail clippings is human - it originates from a human, it is of a human, it is human matter, but it is NOT a human being, it is NOT a person. A zygote merits no more consideration than a mosquito biting you does, the destruction of a zygote is no more immoral than the destruction of a mosquito or amoeba, it feels no pain, it has no awareness, it is in no practical sense a person.
So, at what point does a pregnancy become a person? A pregnancy exists on a continuum, at one end definitely not a person and at the other end definitely a person. Appropriate concern for the living cells in a pregnancy that will become a person also varies on a continuum, from being of a zygote of no concern to a fetus on the verge of birth being a great concern. At any intermediate stage of development the living cells of a pregnancy are of more or less concern depending on how much of a person it is. Experts say a fetus isn't capable of feeling pain until 35 weeks. I've had people argue that a zygote can feel pain because "If it's alive it can feel pain!" but there's no truth to that. If that were true we should be concerned about causing plants pain when we harvest and eat them - precious few people feel that way. No, to feel pain one needs certain features and abilities, nerves to sense and transmit the pain signal and a brain developed enough to perceive it. A zygote or first trimester fetus has none of that, it is incapable of feeling pain. The ability to feel pain is a benchmark for how much concern we as people should have for a fetus, a fetus capable of feeling pain being of greater concern than one that does not.
At the beginning of the continuum on the way to becoming a person the abortion of a zygote by the morning after pill is of no ethical concern to a reasonable person. As the fetus develops we have increasing concern for it and as it nears birth a medically unnecessary abortion becomes completely unethical.
A popular lie amongst Republicans is that healthy fetuses are being aborted a day or two before natural birth would take place or even after natural birth takes place (which is murder). The truth is third trimester abortions are very, very rare and the circumstances that lead to one are such that any reasonable person would agree an abortion is the most ethical choice. No woman in the third trimester of pregnancy wants to have an abortion. Pregnancies that develop to this point are virtually always wanted pregnancies, or at least one where the woman has decided to give birth. The only time an abortion is performed in a third trimester is when there is something seriously wrong with the fetus or pregnancy. The fetus has died or is severely deformed and sure to die shortly after birth or there are serious complications with the pregnancy such that continuing it will likely kill the mother and/or the fetus. No woman is having a third trimester abortion as a means of birth control and anyone who would lie about this to get your vote would be harmful in a position of power or authority.
Throughout recorded history, and in virtually every society, the social and legal convention has always been that a pregnancy does not become a person until live birth. There are myriad legal and practical reasons for this and there is no good argument for changing this universal convention. There's no ethical reason for so-called "personhood" laws that absurdly define a zygote a as person, the entire purpose of such laws is to punish and discourage women who have sex without wanting to get pregnant.
Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's inquiry produced more than two dozen criminal cases, including against a half-dozen Trump associate. Though it did not charge any Trump aide with working with Russia to tip the election, it did find that Russia interfered on Trump's behalf and that the campaign welcomed, rather than discouraged, the help.
After four years of searching, Durham found practically nothing with which to rewrite history. His investigation yielded one conviction but also two acquittals, and even that one conviction wasn’t his success. It was due to a separate 2019 investigation by the Department of Justice’s inspector general.
Most important of all, in terms of the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency, was that none of the three cases undid core findings by Mueller that Russia had interfered with the 2016 election in sweeping fashion. That Donald Trump welcomed, rather than discouraged, the help of Russian saboteurs is an indisputable, inalienable fact that will go with him to his grave.
Meanwhile, us Little Mouses are going to pour some nice cool Black-Eyed Susans and watch the Preakness on our little tiny TV. We're hoping it doesn't rain.
Wow, Giuliani's lawyer quit on him this week. So did Trump's. Now, so did Santos'.
Why don't attorneys want to work with Republicans?
Special counsel John Durham’s report on the Russia collusion fiasco deserves more attention than it is getting, and its critics are dismissing it for one big reason: The 306 pages describe the great failure of original special counsel Robert Mueller.
Mr. Mueller was named special counsel in May 2017, after Democrats and media claimed Donald Trump fired FBI director Jim Comey to stop the bureau’s investigation into the Russia collusion tale. Mr. Mueller hunted for evidence that Mr. Trump was a Russian mole but couldn’t find it. Now the Durham report makes clear that the Mueller team failed to investigate how the collusion probe began as a dirty trick by the Clinton campaign and how the FBI went along for the ride.
The report includes evidence that those engaged in the FBI’s initial Crossfire Hurricane probe and Democratic attorneys used their positions on the Mueller investigating team to cover up the FBI mess. Among Mr. Mueller’s initial hires were FBI agent Peter Strzok, FBI analyst Brian Auten and FBI lawyer Lisa Page—all at the epicenter of the Crossfire fiasco.
Of Mr. Mueller’s 18 attorneys, several worked in the Obama Justice Department during the Crossfire probe, including Andrew Weissmann—a highly partisan Democrat who attended Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election night party. They had a strong incentive to hide the truth.
One telling example: The Durham report documents the Mueller team’s handling of Charles Dolan, a Democrat who was a source for at least one of the false allegations about Mr. Trump and Russia. The FBI Crossfire team was told in September 2016 by Christopher Steele that Mr. Dolan had information related to the infamous dossier, yet the team never followed up. Agents on Mr. Mueller’s team later realized Mr. Dolan’s importance and pushed to interview him, but they were blocked.
One agent told Durham investigators that he was confident Mr. Auten told him to “hold off” interviewing Mr. Dolan. (Mr. Auten said he didn’t recall.) The agent also recalled a meeting at which Mr. Weissmann was present when the agent raised the Dolan information but received “very little feedback.” Another agent and an analyst also pushed the Dolan news in a briefing that included Mr. Auten and Jeannie Rhee (an attorney who once worked for the Clinton Foundation) and tried to open a case. Mr. Auten instructed the analyst to “cease all research and analysis related to Dolan.”
The report says the analyst told the Durham team that she believed the decision to block a probe of Mr. Dolan “was politically motivated,” as it “ran counter to the narrative that the Mueller Special Counsel investigators were cultivating given that Dolan was a former Democratic political operative.”
The analyst also relayed that at various times “Rhee opined, in sum, that there was no longer a need to investigate the [dossier], because the reports were not within the scope of the Mueller Special Counsel mandate.” Mr. Auten says the Mueller leadership in September 2017 told the team to “cease work on attempting to corroborate the [dossier].”
In an understatement for the ages, the Durham report notes that this “directive” was “somewhat surprising given that Director Mueller’s broad mandate was to investigate, among other things, Russian election interference in the 2016 presidential election.” This refers to the Durham finding that the Russians may have compromised Mr. Steele’s sources before he even started writing his dossier.
All of this suggests that the Mueller probe was as much a cover-up as an attempt to find evidence of collusion. And it vindicates the view we expressed in October 2017 that Mr. Mueller, as a former FBI director, should have resigned as special counsel because he lacked the proper distance from the bureau.
At the time any skepticism about the Mueller probe, or the Russia collusion narrative, was denounced as an apology for Mr. Trump. The Durham report shows how wrong the rest of the press corps was. The Durham probe would never have been necessary if Mr. Mueller and his team had done an honest job
The dominos are continuing to fall for Fox News.
One month after firing its most prominent host and election fraud peddler Tucker Carlson — and settling a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million — the network is reportedly dissolving its investigative unit and laying off reporters.
“The rank and file journalists are getting let go,” one Fox employee told Rolling Stone in an article published Friday. “Meanwhile, upper management are sitting pretty while they are the execs responsible for the Dominion debacle. We are the sacrificial lambs.”
Dominion originally sued for $1.6 billion in damages and accused Fox News of intentionally airing lies that the 2020 election was rigged for President Joe Biden. The network is currently also facing another expensive lawsuit from another voting systems company.
The lawsuit notably revealed that Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox News’ parent company, urged the network’s CEO, Suzanne Scott, to be “helping any way we can” to sway the U.S. Senate race in Georgia for Republican candidates in 2020.
Scott, a 22-year Fox News veteran who became the network’s first female CEO in 2018, has since been accused of fostering a toxic workplace for women. However, she wasn’t the only figure named in the lawsuit that staffers have gripes about.
“The outrage is that Suzanne Scott and Maria Bartiromo keep their jobs,” another staffer told Rolling Stone about the CEO and a Fox News opinion host who notably shared her interview questions with then-President Donald Trump ahead of her 2020 interview.
“Meanwhile, the journalists get let go,” the staffer continued. “We are in shock.”
Another staffer confirmed the layoffs and told Rolling Stone they “have happened” and “continue to happen.” A former employee, meanwhile, speculated the network is letting people go “to get money off the books” to “save money because of the lawsuit.”
One source told the outlet that there’s no connection between the Dominion settlement and the layoffs and claimed that some of the people purportedly fired were merely reassigned away from the network’s investigative unit.
Fox News certainly appears to be in trouble, however, as the Smartmatic defamation lawsuit — currently in the discovery phase — is seeking a whopping $2.7 billion in damages.
Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb believes the "feds are coming fast" for Donald Trump, predicting that the investigation into the former president's alleged mishandling of classified documents will land him in prison.
Cobb, a former U.S. assistant attorney and member of the Trump legal team between July 2017 and May 2018, said on Thursday that a plethora of evidence exists to convict the former president.
Mrs. Mouse thinks he'll probably get away with everything, since there are different laws in this country for the rich and powerful and for us Little Mouses. As a good, patriotic, Constitution-loving American Mouse, I have the feeling Mister Trump is going to spend a long time time in prison. Especially when that espionage charge comes down on him.
That's what they charged the Rosenbergs with, isn't it? Life in prison for Trump might not be real long.
It's a pretty safe bet that Georgia versus Donald Trump will be coming our way in August. But don’t forget the other 15 or more defendants that the special grand jury recommended indicting, including Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows. It’s going to be a yuge criminal case. The Republican Party trying to steal an election, that's a big deal.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, threatened to investigate Bill and Hillary Clinton, saying "They not only didn't investigate her like they did President Trump, they gave her campaign a defensive briefing. They should have done the same for President Trump because they literally had no evidence."
Yeah well they did have enough evidence to indict or convict nearly three dozen people and three companies associated with Trump, including Russians who were working with his campaign.
And remember, fun fact: Hillary did not have any classified material in her famous emails. None.
Daniel Penny, who held a homeless man in a chokehold on a New York subway until his death, said the accusations against his character are "a little bit comical" because he loves "all people."
Wow, you sometimes hear somebody say they are in a "suffocating relationship." Wait till they meet this wonderful murderer. And his fine-tuned sense of humor.
20% of patients are unhappy with their knee replacements. In comparison, a review of 27 studies involving 8,000 teens and adults who had transgender surgeries found that only 1% of trans people regret transitioning. Meanwhile the rate of regret for other medical procedures and even having kids is much much higher. Banning gender-affirming care is intellectually dishonest and makes no sense. The cruety is the point.
The NAACP, long an advocate for Black Americans, joined the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), a Latino civil rights organization, and Equality Florida, a gay rights advocacy group, in issuing travel advisories for the Sunshine State, where tourism is one of the state’s largest job sectors.
The warning approved Saturday by the NAACP’s board of directors tells tourists that, before traveling to Florida, they should understand the state of Florida “devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color.”
“Taken in their totality, Florida’s slate of laws and policies targeting basic freedoms and rights pose a serious risk to the health and safety of those traveling to the state,” Equality Florida’s advisory said.
Travel advisories for an entire state. "Florida man" used to be a joke, now it's serious.
"https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/05/22/exclusive-leaked-policy-exposes-fox-news-stances-on-woke-ideology/">Leaked Policy Exposes Fox News Stances on Woke Ideology
Fox News employees are allowed to use bathrooms and dress in alignment with their gender identity, nd they must also be addressed by their preferred name and pronouns in the workplace, according to policies outlined in the company handbook, which has been leaked. Fox also offers to help employees come up with a “Workplace Transition Plan” to ease their gender transition at work.
They want to have a nice workplace but don't want anybody else to.
The Hill has an interesting little article here based on the General Social Survey.
Does God exist? Only half of Americans say a definite yes
Mainline Protestantism, the backbone of faith in many American communities, is "collapsing," said a recent article on the decline of Baptists, Methodists and other denominations.
Between hating gays and women's health and loving guns, people are abandoning this miserable lifestyle.
Since the 1970s, the share of Americans who identify with Protestant denominations has declined from nearly 1 in 3 to around 1 in 10.
The share of Americans who identify as white evangelical Protestants has dwindled from 23 percent to 14 percent since 2006. The share of mainline white Protestants has fallen from 18 percent to 14 percent. White Catholics have declined from 16 percent of the population to 13 percent.
Maybe the fascism we are seeing today is just the frantic spasms of a dying phase of history, trying to stay alive.
Nearly three-quarters of people believe in life after death, NORC data show. That number has remained relatively stable over the decades.
Only 7 percent of people do not believe in God.
“Belief is very stubborn in America today,” said Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University who studies faith.
"Maybe the fascism we are seeing today is just the frantic spasms of a dying phase of history, trying to stay alive."
or, perhaps, it's merely a delusion that lunatic fringe radicals have conjured because they can't face the fact that they have never convinced Americans to join them
On Friday night, Fox News' Laura Ingraham did something nearly unheard of on the propaganda-masquerading-as-news network: She admitted that a story Fox had been hyping was wrong.
For a week, Fox News and other right-wing outlets had been heavily hyping claims that "homeless veterans" were being forced out of a hotel in upstate New York to make room for Central American refugees. Due to diligent reporting from local reporters at the Mid Hudson News, however, the story quickly unraveled. The hotel denied the claims and had receipts to refute the right-wing narrative. By the end of the week, the Mid Hudson News had a group of homeless men ready to talk about how Sharon Toney-Finch, the source of this tale and the head of a veteran advocacy group, had recruited them to pretend they were the displaced veterans. The whole thing was a hoax.
"Turns out the group behind the claim made it up," Ingraham said, in a rare moment of honesty. However, she swiftly returned to the comfier space of mendacity, saying, "We have no clue as to why anyone would do such a thing."
This, of course, is total nonsense. Ingraham knows exactly why someone would fake such a story: Because it works. Whether Toney-Finch's goals were money, fame, or politics, she appears to have correctly surmised that a surefire way to get wall-to-wall coverage in right-wing media is to roll out some B.S. story that validates the bigoted beliefs of their audience. Indeed, history shows that hoaxes and fake stories like this don't just routinely take off in right-wing media, but often gain enough momentum to launch into the mainstream media, giving the lies more traction and validation across the political spectrum. That's what happened with "Clinton's emails," a nothingburger story that nonetheless shaped voter opinions, because mainstream journalists kept asking then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to explain herself, without ever telling audiences there was nothing to explain.
The pattern plays out the same way again and again: Right-wing operatives claim to have a "whistleblower" or "undercover footage" or some other evidence of a "scandal." The right-wing media cover it breathlessly, and the mainstream media, afraid of being left behind, soon amplify the false story. Eventually, the lies get debunked, but only after the story has lodged into the public imagination. Typically, the debunkings are much quieter, as well, which means most Americans who heard the original hoax never hear the truth.
It's a strategy that was used to sell the Iraq War, by hyping false claims that Saddam Hussein was concealing weapons of mass destruction. "Benghazi". "Planned Parenthood sells fetal parts." Claims that the now-destroyed anti-poverty organization ACORN was covering up for sex traffickers. Same story over and over: Right wing hoaxes, fueled by mainstream coverage, spread rapidly. Even the Satanic panic of the 80s fits the mold. Stories of Satanic ritual abuse were first floated by deceptive conservative sources, only to flow into the mainstream press that didn't look too closely at people's false claims. The truth eventually comes out with these kinds of stories, but it's usually too late to stop the damage.
However, there are some intriguing signs that the mainstream media is finally starting to learn skepticism, instead of simply rushing forward to give airtime to shadily sourced right-wing fairy tales. A few years ago, for instance, there was a good chance that CNN and NPR and the New York Times would have been right up there with Fox, publishing stories about these "homeless vets" allegations, only to issue much-quieter debunking stories days later. This time, however, mainstream outlets were careful not to take the bait, only covering the story once it was clear it wasn't true, and centering their coverage around the hoax itself, not the allegations.
What's changed? Plenty.
For one thing, here has been increasing pressure on mainstream outlets to not do another "Clinton's emails." Due to Donald Trump's profligate lying, there's also a lot more public discussion about the nature of disinformation, making it all the more embarrassing for media outlets that succumb to the siren call to amplify it. But what has really made an impact is the defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News, which resulted in a $787 million settlement earlier this spring.
Who knows how permanent the lesson will be, but for now, there's little doubt that the settlement and the public court filings before it have destroyed Fox's longstanding but undeserved reputation as a "news" organization. Prior to the lawsuit, there was a general-but-false view that, while Fox is conservative, they aren't deliberate peddlers of disinformation. So when a story was published on Fox, it created not just permission for other outlets to treat it as credible, but pressure on them to cover it, lest they be accused of "bias" against conservatives.
Dominion's lawyers released a bunch of insider text messages and communications from Fox leadership, however, that proved beyond all doubt that the network knowingly spreads lies. Not only did the documents demonstrate Fox hosts and executives openly discussing how to amplify and validate Trump's election lies, there was even talk of punishing employees who dared tell the truth about who won the 2020 election. It made it impossible for the rest of the press to keep up the pretense that information on Fox is trustworthy.
Ironically, it was that very pretense that made it so easy for Fox to pump false stories into the mainstream media. That's likely why Ingraham felt the need to admit the "homeless veterans" story was a hoax. If Fox is ever going to regain its power to push misleading or even fake stories into the news again, they'll need to start convincing mainstream journalists they're a "real" news outlet. Offering a correction on-air, no matter how insincere, helps prop up the illusion that Fox is anything but the dishonest propaganda outlet it actually is.
Will it work? On one hand, there's still a strong desire in the mainstream media to prove they're not "biased" by giving Fox News and Republicans the benefit of the doubt. On the other hand, there's other signs that the Beltway press has generally become better at debunking Republican lies before giving them airtime.
For instance, both Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, have been trying for over a year to use their House committee chairs to spread disinformation. They use all the usual propaganda techniques, such as false claims to have "whistleblowers" or reliance on untrustworthy sources. But rather than credulously quoting Republican claims without contextualizing them, the press has been doing a much better job of focusing coverage on the lack of credibility — or the lack of existence — of these supposed "witnesses". Jordan in particular seems frustrated that it's a lot harder that it used to be to get the press to parrot his lies uncritically.
Unfortunately, disinformation has a lot more channels to go through than it used to. Obviously, social media is the biggest purveyor of GOP lies, helping outright nonsense spread faster than even Fox News could dream of. Plus, there's a number of alternative media bad actors, like Joe Rogan, who are only happy to do the "tell the big lie, and then quietly admit it wasn't true" game on topics like whether schools offer litter boxes to kids who "identify as cats."
Still, it cannot be understated how important it is to have mainstream media validating right wing nonsense. It's why Trump was so eager to go on CNN to tell lies, even though Fox News has a much larger audience. The veneer of Beltway acceptance goes a long way towards reassuring people who want to buy into conspiracy theories that they aren't "crazy" or "fringe." There was a time when a preposterous story like the "homeless vets displaced by migrants" hoax could have exploded across mainstream media before anyone bothered to check if it was true. That the press turned its nose up to this right wing bait is a hopeful sign of progress.
hypocrite n. definition:
Video: Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend Brian Glenn in drag.
Glenn: "I may keep the pantyhose on. It does feel kind of good actually."
UPDATE: Investigators have seized a Nazi flag from the scene where a driver was detained after a truck crashed into security barriers near the White House, officials say.
Miami-Dade K-8 elementary students are prohibited from reading the poem The Hills We Climb, which was recited by poet Amanda Gorman at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, following a parent's complaint.
So -- that's where we're headed if we don't stop it at home. Maryland could end up just like Florida.
Luckily all the Little Mousies have most of the poem memorized. They can take our cheese, but they can't take our poetry!
Former Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton said “people have the right to consider” his age as a factor to re-elect him to another term in office.
During an appearance at the Financial Times Weekend Festival in Washington, D.C., Clinton, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2016, was asked by Financial Times editor Edward Luce about the moment when Biden almost fell walking down the stairs during the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
“Every time that happens, your heart is in your mouth, because these things could be consequential. Is that a concern?” Luce asked Clinton.
“Well, I mean, it’s a concern for anyone. Clinton responded. “his age is an issue. And people have every right to consider it.”
Clinton also said that she believes that Biden is determined to run for another term in office.
Clinton’s remarks come nearly a month after Biden announced that he plans to run for reelection in 2024 amid weeks of speculation. Biden has faced questions about his age and whether he is up for a full campaign season and a second term as president
After MTG spoke at Nick Fuentes' America First Political Action Conference event in 2022, Fuentes showered her with praise. Now Fuentes claims that he was just using her because "women do not belong in politics. I all along never accepted Marjorie Green as a congresswoman."
Sure, now that we know her boyfriend is a drag queen.
Little Mouses don't care what you wear, we don't like MTG because she's mean and dumb.
More than 450 Catholic clergy in Illinois sexually abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950, the state’s attorney general found in an investigation released Tuesday, revealing that the problem was far worse than the church had let on.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at a news conference that investigators found that 451 Catholic clergy abused 1,997 children in Illinois between 1950 and 2019, though he acknowledged that the statute of limitations has expired in many cases and that those abusers “will never see justice in a legal sense.”
Us Little Mouses have a couple of drag queens, there are a fair number of gay and trans Little Mouses, but we like to raise our Little Ones in innocence and safety. We don't have any need here for Christian clergy. So many of them are groomers.
"More than 450 Catholic clergy in Illinois sexually abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950"
almost all were homosexuals who found the priesthood a convenient place to hide because the celibacy vow gave them a plausible reason to not seem interested in girls
Rightwing goons have been threatening retail employees selling Pride merchandise. Target has decided to give them what they want.
"Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and well-being while at work," Target said in a statement Tuesday. "Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior."
Target wouldn't say which items it was removing but among the ones that had attracted the most attention were "tuck friendly" women's swimsuits that allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their private parts.
How much would it cost to provide store security with, say, baseball bats?
Not a big surprise that Target corporate leadership sides with the nazis on this one. Violence works, at least at Target.
Wanda Sykes: "Until a drag queen walks into a school and beats eight kids to death with a copy of 'To Kill A Mockingbird', I think you’re focusing on the wrong shit."
This is an appeal to rational people. Republicans won't understand it. Us Little Mouses are just glad we outnumber them.
The House Ethics Committee ended its two-year investigation into Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., over allegations that he had ties to a suspected Chinese intelligence operative. Republicans were sure that Democrats are just as bad as them, and planned to embarrass the Democratic Congressman. Turns out even they could not find anything at all to accuse him of.
In a letter to Swalwell dated Monday, the committee said it will take no further action in the probe that began in April 2021 into “allegations raised in the complaint that you may have violated House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct in connection with your interactions with Ms. Christine Fang,” the suspected Chinese spy.
It was supposed to be a historic moment for Twitter: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would smoothly kick off his presidential candidacy on the social media platform.
An uninterrupted conversation between DeSantis and Twitter CEO Elon Musk would be live-streamed on Twitter Spaces to mark the event. Musk owns Twitter and they have been talking about him running as Rhonda Santis's vice presidential candidate.
But instead, the live audio event was beset with technical malfunctions. After some 20 minutes of crashing and echoing and chaos, it abruptly ended.
Many on Twitter had a one-word description for it: "disaster."
Hey did you see the entire House of Representatives break out in extended laughter when Marjorie Taylor Green -- the dumb one with the drag-queen boyfriend -- pounded the gavel and told them to observe decorum.
We let the Little Mouses watch the news today so they could see that. It was just so funny, and the Little Ones squeak when they giggle and it was so cute. Watch that video, Congress can't stop laughing at her, it's so absurd. Ironic is the word.
CNN's Trump town hall was a hilarious and predictable journalistic and political disaster that brought CNN mockery on the day of the event. It was also a business failure as well: A paltry 3.1 million viewers tuned in.
This shouldn’t have been a surprise—Trump simply does not have the drawing power he once had and the public is clearly sick of him. But more than that, CNN's ratings last week were the worst the network has posted since June 2015 -- a momentous month in American politics, given Trump’s now infamous escalator ride. The network averaged just 429,000 total daily viewers from Monday-Friday, less than half of those of MSNBC and Fox News.
Little Mouses certainly do not want to see Trump, rightwing apologists, and spineless bothsiderism on our little tiny television set. We want to make the world a better place, not some kind of authoritarian dystopia.
Did you see that Rhonda Santis video that came out this week? Very impressive, fighter jets screaming overhead as Rhonda looks dreamily off into the great future. Real presidential imagery.
But wait. This just in:
The super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign altered footage to include the sound and sight of fighter jets flying over the Florida governor in its video promoting his campaign launch. Real video of DeSantis' speech on Nov. 5, 2022, in Port St. Lucie shows there wasn't a military flyover or jet sounds during the event.
Huh, imagine that. Fake news.
Oh-oh, there's blood in the water. The rightwingers are turning on each other.
Alan Dershowitz says he was mistakenly listed as the lead attorney in Kari Lake’s suit against the Arizona secretary of state and supervisors of two Arizona counties.
"I do not like Miss Lake," Dershowitz told U.S. District Judge John Tuchi. "I would never have voted for her. I would never in a million years be part of any campaign to influence or affect the election."
Stephen K. Bannon, a longtime adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, is scheduled to stand trial in May of next year for what prosecutors say was his role in defrauding Americans who paid money toward the construction of a southern border wall, a judge said Thursday.
The Little Mouses laugh and laugh when Republicans complain about jail conditions. They want to lock everybody else up, and then it's like, "Yuck, it's dirty in here." "Ooh these guards are mean to me." "I never get to do anything." "I gotta poop in a hole in the floor like an ordinary criminal." Grandma Mouse surprised us all at dinner yesterday when she said, "If they don't like it they shouldn't break the fucking law. Please pass the cheese, sweetie." She doesn't usually talk like that. Uncle Musculus suggested that they should de-louse Steve Bannon before his trial, which we all thought seemed like a good idea.
The Florida mom who got Amanda Gorman's poem banned apologizes for promoting “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Her Facebook account features a flood of political posts reflecting right-wing ideologies including the antisemitic Protocols. Miami Against Fascism also shared video of the woman, Daily Salinas, with the Proud Boys.
Salinas challenged the Gorman poem, which she says she hasn’t read in its entirety, on the grounds that it contains "indirect hate messages." Asked why she wanted a list of books removed, Salinas said she had just been expressing her "opinion" that they did not "support the curriculum" but declined to elaborate. She said she had only read parts of the books. "They have to read for me because I’m not an expert," she said. "I'm not a reader. I’m not a book person. I’m a mom involved in my children’s education."
Little Mouses, in case you don't know, have little tiny books. But we actually read them. Luckily we hve good strong eyes and can see the little tiny letters. We don't tell other people that they can't read stuff, because I hate to say it mouses seem to be much smarter than humans.
A Texas House Committee investigating criminal Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton have voted unanimously to recommend his impeachment and removal from office for bribery, abuse of office and ethics violations. The House General Investigating committee found that Paxton had repeatedly broken state laws, including misuse of official information, abuse of official capacity and retaliation.
Paxton tweeted the allegations against him were based on "hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims" and being championed by "RINOs" -- Republicans in name only.
They've been investigating the guy for seven years. Even his list of past crimes is long. And there he is, at the top of the criminal justice food chain, judging and prosecuting other people. Texas voters were aware of the allegations against Paxton, and re-elected him this past November anyway. Guess thats just how they are down there.
This just in, Ken Paxton's articles of impeachment:
Disregard of official duty: 7
Misapplication of public resources: 1
Const'l bribery: 2
Obstruction of justice: 2
False stments in offcl records: 3
Conspiracy, attempted: 1
Misappropriation of public rsrcs: 1
Dereliction of duty: 1
Unfitness for ofc: 1
Abuse of public trust: 1
Now there's a God-fearing, Constitution-loving Republican for ya! What do you wanna bet he gets elected again? They love this stuff, I mean this guy is really owning the libs.
Here’s Ronna McDaniel on Fox News saying that a possible debt default “bodes very well” for the Republican presidential field
The Washington Post: "Prosecutors in addition have gathered evidence indicating that Trump at times kept classified documents in his office in a place where they were visible and sometimes showed them to others, these people said."
Birdies in the trees are tweeting that old song "Espionage Act." It was a hit in the 1950s by a husband-and-wife group called The Rosenbergs.
"Target Corp. has seen its market cap drop by billions of dollars in the aftermath of the outcry over its Pride clothing line as the retailer finds itself mired in its own Bud Light moment.
The company’s market capitalization has lost as much as $9 billion since May 17 amid a backlash over its Pride 2023 apparel line for children and adults, which included some items created by a Satanist-inspired British designer Abprallen.
At the end of trading Wednesday, the market cap was $66.05 billion, representing a drop of 11% for a loss of $8.24 billion from $74.29 billion on May 17."
Target sold clothes made by a satanic homosexual sympathizer
now, they will go the way of Bud Light
up next, the LA Dodgers
remember when gays boycotted Chik-Fil-A?
their sale went up!
ain't that America sumpin' to see!
GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel:
"You look at this debt ceiling crisis. You look at us about to default, and you see that president refused to come to the table with Republicans. This is a president that is failing the American people. So I think that bodes very well for the Republican field."
All the Little Mouses I know are hoping that America succeeds and prospers, so they will drop a lot of cheese where we can find it. We don't want Republicans to run things because they want the economy to fail. Then what do we do -- eat trash off the street? Puh-leeze.
President Joe Biden said today: "Defaulting on the debt—including trillions incurred under Donald Trump—could mean seniors missing Social Security checks and millions of jobs lost.
It sounds like the head of the Republican Party thinks that’s a price worth paying to elect Republicans."
Hopefully has already thought of a way to undermine their plan to destroy the American and world economy. Biden mumbles a little, but I don't think those Republicans have a chance against Dark Brandon.
The tally of people infected with the coronavirus after attending a high-profile CDC conference in April has risen to at least 181.
About 70% of participants who responded to a CDC survey said they did not wear masks at the event.
Us Little Mouses have a saying that dates all the way back to the Velveeta Age: "Ignorance is not irony." Of all people, these doctors and epidemiologist-types should have known to wear masks. Cheese, I mean jeez.
Tina Turner live from Edmonton (1982 @ Devil's Lake Ranch)
While all the other GOP presidential candidates were busy campaigning on Thursday, USA Today reported that Trump was kicking back at Trump National Golf Course in Virginia, which will soon host a tournament on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour — the third at a property owned by the former president just this year. (Two more will be scheduled at Trump properties in New Jersey and Florida.) Last year, Trump — in typically obtuse style — even scheduled a tournament at the New Jersey club on Sept. 11, drawing outrage from the families of 9/11 victims. Trump said he didn't know what they were talking about and defended Saudi Arabia, telling ESPN that "nobody has gotten to the bottom of 9/11."
It's unclear how much money has actually changed hands, but Trump admits that he's been paid a fee, which he calls "peanuts," by the sponsoring Public Investment Fund, the same Saudi government entity that "invested" in Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's business to the tune of $2 billion just a couple of months after he left the White House. (That's a deal that makes Hunter Biden's alleged transgressions look like kids gambling for nickels in the lunchroom.) These tournaments generally bring in millions to the clubs that host them so those are some pretty big peanuts.
According to USA Today, a reporter asked Trump whether his resorts have gotten these tournaments because of his favorable policies toward Saudi Arabia as president. He flippantly replied, "Not at all." Apparently, his defense of the Saudi government's assassination and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi wasn't significant. They just love him, and his golf courses.
Trump extolled the virtues of the LIV Golf tour (a rival to the long-dominant PGA), telling reporters, "They have unlimited money, and they love it. And it's been great publicity for Saudi Arabia. They've been great for golf. The Saudis have been fantastic for golf. And ... inside their country, they're going to do some great courses." Indeed, he has signed at least one development deal to license a golf and hotel complex in the Gulf state of Oman, financed by a Saudi firm.
LIV Golf is a key part of the Saudi regime's program of "sportswashing," meaning as a nation's attempt to use massive investment in sports to cover up for its human rights abuses. (The Saudi fund also took control of the English soccer club Newcastle United in a controversial 2021 deal.) Even aside from the Khashoggi atrocity, many of those horrors happened during Trump's term, as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took control of the ruling family by force, rounding up more than 400 members of the Saudi elite and torturing them.
Trump, as you may recall, was very impressed.
JUST IN: President Trump meets with Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman at G-20 in Japan, calls him "a friend of mine" and says that he's done "really a spectacular job" and that it's a "great honor" to meet with him.
"It's like a revolution in a very positive way," he said. That's the kind of support from a U.S. president that lots of money can buy.
Trump has huge investments in his golf course empire, which has suffered because of his Big Lie and the ripple effects of Jan. 6. The PGA tour pulled out of hosting its championship at Trump's club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and the British Open definitely isn't coming back to Turnberry, Trump's Scottish resort. LIV is the only game in town for Trump these days.
There is some evidence suggesting that special counsel Jack Smith may be looking into Trump's connections to LIV Golf in connection with the Mar-a-Lago case. The New York Times reported this a couple of weeks ago:
One of the previously unreported subpoenas to the Trump Organization sought records pertaining to Mr. Trump's dealings with a Saudi-backed professional golf venture known as LIV Golf, which is holding tournaments at some of Mr. Trump's golf resorts.
Just this week, the Times also reported that the subpoena also asked for the Trump Organization's real estate licensing and development deals in China, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman since 2017, when Trump became president. Most of the D.C. punditocracy has dismissed this as nothing more than Smith "dotting his I's and crossing his T's" before he makes his case. Maybe they're right. But at least someone is finally taking a look at what exactly was going on while Trump was running his business out of the Oval Office.
It's never been easy to separate Trump's financial motivations from his massive ego. He's excessively subject to flattery and that's often enough to gain his support. But his relationship with the Saudis clearly has a major financial component, as does Jared Kushner's, and all of that seems to be tied to their time in the White House.
If Trump were just retiring to his golf resorts and taking advantage of all the contacts he made while president, it might be reasonable just to let it go in the interest of never having to think about him again. But he's the clear frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination and he's openly helping the Saudi regime "sportswash" its human rights record while taking unknown millions from it.
Let's hope that unlike Robert Mueller, who refused to exceed his mandate and look at Trump's finances, Jack Smith sees this for the blatant corruption it is. Otherwise, we're just accepting that it's perfectly OK for presidents and presidential candidates to do big favors for autocratic foreign governments in exchange for money. Are we really that far gone?
45-year-old Christopher Fourcade, Director of Children's Ministries First Christian Church of Norman Oklahoma, was booked into the Cleveland County Detention Center on four complaints of lewd acts with a child and two complaints of possession of child pornography. There is no mention in the news articles about him being a drag queen.
It's a chicken-and-egg thing. Do these monsters become "youth pastors" so they can molest children, or do they learn on the job?
Patriot Front paraded through Washington DC last week in their nearly-matching khakis and masks covering their faces. And what are their beliefs? Well, they're nazis for one. But other stuff is coming out. Like, in Utah a Patriot Front guy pleaded guilty in a Utah court last month to nine felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and a misdemeanor count of dealing in material harmful to a minor. They found pictures on his cell phone and he admitted sending pictures of his penis to a young girl.
Jared Boyce was among 31 men associated with Patriot Front arrested last year near a gay pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and the child pornography case appears to be an outgrowth of what happened there.
Patriot Front is opposed to being gay, but they are okay with having sex with children. That's backwards from us Little Mouses and also backwards from normal human beings.
"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."
― Voltaire
Letter to Damilaville, 1767
We were watching the news on our little tiny TV here inside the church walls, and then we talked about it over some nice cheddar.
We all agree. 1. The Republicans want to destroy the world economy so they can make the Democratic president look bad. And 2.President Biden is a smart guy, he sees what they're doing and he has played this politics game for a long, long time. All the mouses are confident he has something up his sleeve that will rescue the economy without sacrificing old people, poor people, and sick people so that billionaires can make more money. He's not going to let that happen.
On her "Jesus, Guns, and Babies" podcast, Kandiss Taylor, Georgia GOP District Chair, discussed biblical evidence that the Earth is actually flat. "The people that defend the globe don't know anything about the globe," said [podcast guest David] Weiss. "If they knew a tenth of what Matt [Long, podcast guest] and I know about the globe they would be Flat Earthers."
"All the globes, everywhere" Taylor said later in the discussion. "I turn on the TV, there's globes in the background ... Everywhere there's globes. You see them all the time, it's constant. My children will be like 'Mama, globe, globe, globe, globe' — they're everywhere. That's what they do, to brainwash," she added. "For me if it's not a conspiracy. If it is real, why are you pushing so hard everywhere I go? Every store, you buy a globe, there's globes everywhere. Every movie, every TV show, news media — why? More and more I'm like, it doesn't make sense."
We mouses need to remember that humans are still evolving. Maybe someday they will attain the intellectual aptitude of an actual mouse.
Police in Waco, Texas, arrested the former pastor at Baylor University on charges that he allowed a sex offender he called his “spiritual mentor” to sexually abuse two young relatives, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported. One of the victims was eleven years old at the time. Christopher Hundl, 38, was charged Tuesday with continuous sexual abuse of a child, which is a first-degree felony, and later released on $50,000 bond. Baylor University has reported that Hundl resigned from his position as minister for the Baylor chapter of Chi Alpha, a worldwide Christian ministry sponsored by the Assembly of God Church. Chi Alpha has been suspended from the university and is under investigation.
Us mouses almost didn't notice this story, it happens so often. This religious organization seems to set up pedophiles with children -- says they had a hot-tub party with little kids. Luckily they know they are forgiven for their sins, and won't have to feel bad about any of this.
Punchbowl News journalist Max Cohen asked Kevin McCarthy how he would describe his interactions with Biden during negotiations.
“Very professional, very smart. Very tough at the same time,” McCarthy said.
Here's how his own team feels about the Republicans' next presidential candidate.
Republican Opinions on Trump
Kilmeade: insane
Priebus: an idiot
McMaster: dope
Mnuchin: an idiot
Kelly: unhinged & an idiot
Mattis: 5th grader
Christie: a child
Coulter: a moron
Barr: detached from reality
DeSantis: a moron
Bolton: a Putin-loving moron
Tillerson: a fucking moron
John Fredericks is a conservative radio talk show host in Virginia. Here's his calm and level-headed assessment of the budget deal.
"Sell-Out! This is the biggest, worst most despicable sell-out of our base in Republican history. WE GOT NOTHING! WTF was the point of the bill we passed? It was a con-job. They think we are freaking stupid because we work for a living. Now they'll pass it with RINO and DEM votes! And they gave Biden a 2-year blank check! We need a GOP political revolt. Vacate McCarthy ASAP. Primary every Republican who votes for this in '24 with all we've got. We've been lied to, misled and played like dumb-shits. Their SPIN is pathetic. We're done with this."
Poor baby. They wanted to destroy the world's economy, but that mean Dark Brandon wouldn't let them. Here buddy, have a piece of cheese, 'll make ya feel better. It's a nice Swiss, 2017 vintage, slightly tangy with hints of mold. We found it under the sink last week.
Florida Republican Governor Rhonda Santis vowed during a Monday interview with Fox & Friends to "destroy leftism" if she defeats President Joe Biden in next year's presidential election. She said, "Everyone knows if I'm the nominee, I will beat Biden, uh, and I will serve two terms and I will be able to, uh, destroy leftism in this country and leave woke ideology on the dustbin of history."
Sadly us mouses had our tiny TV turned off and missed that show. I wonder if she explained, finally, what "woke" means. We had thought "woke" was a good thing, but I guess Ms. Santis is planning to destroy it, whatever it is.
Report: McCarthy’s work requirement proposal and his gripes about dependency come straight from the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), a conservative think tank that recently made headlines for helping secretly draft several state bills to roll back child labor laws.
McCarthy told Fox News Tuesday morning. "In this family we may have a child, able-bodied, not married, no kids, but he's sitting on the couch collecting welfare."
"We're gonna put work requirements on that individual, so he's going to have work requirements, he's gonna get a job, and he's gonna make the life easier," McCarthy said.
Mama Mouse found a rag that we wad up and sit on to watch out little tiny TV. We call it our "couch," and it's pretty nice. We'd rather have our kids sitting on the couch watching cartoons (Mickey Mouse, Mighty Mouse, Speedy Gonzalez, not Tom but Jerry...) than have them working in a slaughterhouse somewhere. Republicans are weird.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump are reportedly being scammed out of thousands of dollars through the sale of commemorative "Trump Bucks" that fraudsters say can be exchanged for real cash.
Several companies are allegedly using advertising tactics including creating AI-generated videos of Trump and other figures like Elon Musk to claim the worthless "Trump Bucks" will make them rich, according to a new report from NBC News.
Some of the people who bought the Trump memorabilia have attempted to exchange it for real US dollars at banks, and told NBC News that bank employees are reporting it as a growing issue. Several companies have been identified for marketing and selling the false currency, NBC News reported, including a number of businesses seemingly based in Colorado with names like Patriots Dynasty, Patriots Future, and USA Patriots.
"President Trump wants you to finally open your eyes and believe in his power for a better tomorrow!" reads a banner message on one of the sites advertising a "TRB Black Card," which sells as a single card for $90 or packs of up to 10 cards for $500.
The card promises buyers will be able to "live the American Dream, live the life you were promised and get the things you always wanted without thinking twice!"
A TikTok cited by NBC News features either an AI-generated or real person doing an impression of Trump in a fake appearance on Fox News promoting the products. Another video posted to Twitter features a fake audio clip of Musk playing over a video of the billionaire speaking at an event, claiming he has spent "one million" on the memorabilia and is going to "cash out" his Trump items to become "the richest person on the planet again."
One ad for the "Trump Bucks" — featuring a seemingly AI-generated voice identified as "John" — states "most people believe that the presidential election interfered with the course of history" and identifies Trump as "the great leader."
The ad also says the bills are "not legal tender," but seconds later says the TRB membership card will actually allow them to use the bills as tender and deposit them in banks like Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase, or use them at popular retailers like Costco, Walmart, and Home Depot.
Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Walmart and Home Depot all told NBC News they don't accept "Trump Bucks," and a Bank of America spokesperson said the company has heard from employees about several people trying to exchange the worthless bills for significantly larger amounts of cash than they spent to buy them.
Impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a news interview that if he hadn’t stopped 2.5 million mail-in ballots during the presidential election, Biden would have won Texas & Trump would have lost the state.
This probably means he rigged the election so Beto O'Rourke lost, too.
Does anybody think that's how an election is supposed to work? Two and a half million people's votes didn't get counted but it's okay, the Republican won.
BTW this isn't a "confession." The guy is bragging. He wants to make sure he gets credit for this.
Two and a half million votes ain't nuthin to squeak at.
This just make me choke on my cheese.
Tara Reade, who accused Biden of sexual assault and had claims debunked, has just announced that she has defected to Russia, in a press conference with convicted Russian spy Maria Butina.
Watch for a rumor suggesting this is a double-dip backflip extra-underhanded triple-blind false flag operation, where Biden is trying to make this woman look bad while he continues operating his crime syndicate.
Or maybe this is what it seems to be: she has been working for Russia to undermine the president they don't like.
Occam's Razor, anyone?
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