Taylor Swift Scares the Heck Out of the GOP
...She endorsed Biden in 2020; MAGA fears she’ll do it again.
(BLOGGER’S NOTE: PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO CHECK OUT A FEW OF THE LINKS ATTACHED TO ALL OF THESE STORIES. THEY TREAT THE SUBJECTS IN MORE DEPTH THAN I CAN.)
…She also encouraged young people to register to vote (and got a quick and heavy response)…so naturally the rightwing-nuts and MAGA-MORONS are hatching all kinds of conspiracy slurs against TIME’s Person of the Year. Here is a sample from FOX “news’s” constantly-smirking Jesse Watters https://twitter.com/i/status/1744899360159109185. I won’t justify any more of the similar slop MAGAworld is slinging by showing it here. But you get the gist…
I’ll be looking for her and Travis Kelce at the Super Bowl! (Well, on TV anyway.)
Now that I’ve gotten your attention…It’s been a massive few days of news…difficult for this blogger to decide what to focus on.
So, ICYMI:
LANKFORD, BORDER SECURITY UNDERMINED BY TRUMP and his MAGA-servants
Senator James Lankford (R-OK) accepted the challenge from Mitch McConnell to work with Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) to craft the border security bill that Republicans were demanding in return for support for Ukraine and Israel, and Taiwan. The trio arrived at a bill that by all accounts amounted to fulfilling the Republicans’ purported wish list of the last few years.
It was endorsed by:
the Border Patrol’s union
the US Chamber of Commerce
and by the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page.
But the GOP couldn’t seem to accept a win, and the thanks Lankford got for his work was to be thrown under the bus. Trump ordered the GOP to kill it before it was even released. Trump would much rather have chaos at the border to campaign on. He could give a damn about the good of the country, and would be horrified by legislators who actually worked together and compromised to move the ball forward.
Republicans in Congress quickly heeded his instructions.
Here's a classic example: former Texas lawman-turned-congressman Troy Nehls told CNN, “I’m not willing to do too damn much right now to help a Democrat and to help Joe Biden’s approval rating. I will not help the Democrats… Why would I?”
Maybe because Texas is a border state, perhaps the epicenter of the crisis, Troy?
Meanwhile The Anointed One, Speaker Mike Johnson, called it “dead on arrival” before even knowing what was in the bill.
Linda Chavez, who served as Director of Public Liaison in the Reagan White House, calls out Republican lies as they try to rationalize their turnabout on this issue. Read her indictment of the GOP liars here.
Meanwhile they’re trying to distract you from their hypocrisy and legislative incompetence with a sham impeachment of the Secretary of Homeland Security while they warm up for a bigger distraction, impeaching the President, so that Trump is not the only Presidential candidate in the 2024 election with an impeachment on his resume.
PUTIN HAS (ANOTHER) USEFUL IDIOT...Russian state TV has been airing his pro-Putin Fox clips for months; now they put him on a propaganda pedestal
Former FOX “news” personality Tucker Carlson spent the last few years trying to turn Americans’ sympathies to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and against Ukraine’s heroic stand for democracy. He has largely succeeded in turning the GOP into a subsidiary of Putin, Inc.
Perhaps only Donald Trump kissed Putin’s behind more than Carlson has.
Well, the shameless liar has turned up in Moscow, where he’ll be offering Putin a propaganda forum. Meanwhile, the GOP continues to block military assistance to Ukraine even as the EUROPEAN UNION STEPS UP…
From Reuters:
BRUSSELS, Feb 1 (Reuters) - European Union leaders unanimously agreed on Thursday to extend 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in aid to Ukraine, overcoming weeks of resistance by Hungary.
Following is some of the initial reaction.
EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT CHARLES MICHEL:
"We have a deal. All 27 leaders agreed on an additional €50 billion support package for Ukraine within the EU budget. This locks in steadfast, long-term, predictable funding for Ukraine. The EU is taking leadership and responsibility in support for Ukraine; we know what is at stake.
It’s been a massive few days of news…difficult for this blogger to decide what to focus on.
CITIZEN TRUMP NOT IMMUNE FROM CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
A Federal Appeals Court has upheld a lower court’s decision that a president does not have “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution.1
My favorite passages:
For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant. But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.
…and:
Former President Trump’s alleged efforts to remain in power despite losing the 2020 election were, if proven, an unprecedented assault on the structure of our government. He allegedly injected himself into a process in which the President has no role—the counting and certifying of the Electoral College votes—thereby undermining constitutionally established procedures and the will of Congress …
We cannot accept former President Trump’s claim that a President has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power—the recognition and implementation of election results. Nor can we sanction his apparent contention that the Executive has carte blanche to violate the rights of individual citizens to vote and to have their votes count.
Trump has — no surprise, because delay, delay, delay in his only strategy — promised to appeal to the Supreme Court. They have the option to decline the appeal, and let the ruling stand.
TRUMP TO FIRE RNC CHAIR RONNA (ROMNEY) McDANIEL
It’s been said that everyone who works with Trump comes out dirty. And that while Trump values loyalty over anything else, he is notoriously unloyal to anyone. Ronna Romney McDaniel, a member of the GOP nobility2 who chose to stop using the Romney name after the 2016 election, is about to be the latest Trump minion to be cast aside into the gutter like so many others. Too bad she sullied her reputation and perhaps even put herself in legal jeopardy for Trump by helping him pressure two Republican canvassers in Michigan not to certify the 2020 presidential election results during a phone call days after the election.
Just can’t seem to muster up any crocodile tears for her…
See: NY Times: “The Trump Election Immunity Ruling, Annotated” https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/06/us/politics/trump-immunity-ruling-2020-election.html?unlocked_article_code=1.T00.ZOBs.TDIiUi2QPbEx&smid=url-share
McDaniel is a granddaughter of George Romney, chairman and president of American Motors Corporation (1954 - 1962); Michigan Governor (1963 - 1969); and onetime Presidential contender (1968). She’s a niece of former Massachusetts Governor and U.S. Senator Mitt Romney.