SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

DeSantis is a galloping hypocrite...

 

and a Trumpublican. But I repeat myself.

DeSantis, Once a ‘No’ on Storm Aid, Petitions a President He’s Bashed

The Florida governor, who as a congressman opposed aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy, is seeking relief from the Biden administration as Hurricane Ian ravages his own state.

"The president and the governor have each made a point of saying publicly that they and their teams are in touch. “He complimented me. He thanked me for the immediate response we had,” Mr. Biden said on Thursday, suggesting that any political conflicts with Mr. DeSantis were irrelevant in these times. “This is about saving people’s lives, homes and businesses.” (In February, Mr. DeSantis baselessly said Mr. Biden 'stiffs' storm victims for political reasons, insisting that the president 'hates Florida.')"

GUEST POST BY DAVE MILLER

 

THE DOUBLE STANDARD

The GOP is loaded with people complaining about Hunter Biden, his laptop, his work record, his China connections, his drug abuse, even his dad, President Joe Biden. If Hunter is a dog, as many allege, then his dad, the president, must also be a dog, because it stretches credibility to believe the two of them can keep their lives, work, and political ambitions separate. To the GOP and their minions, any sin Hunter Biden may have committed, immediately implicates his father because well -- they’re related. 

And yet somehow, that same logic goes out the windows when it comes to SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni. Thomas serves at the SCOTUS under a recommendation that he avoid even the appearance of influence in cases he is hearing. As such, he arguably must show a higher degree of deference when something may even hint at an appearance of influence creeping into our nation’s highest court. 

That is as it should be because our SCOTUS justices are appointed for life, and the fairness of their rulings is one of the lynch pins of our democracy. So tell me, why is the GOP so upset about Hunter Biden yet has remained silent about cases before the SCOTUS involving Ginni Thomas? 

Why have they not called for Justice Thomas to recuse himself in cases regarding his wife, her organizations, and her work on behalf of the January 6 insurrectionists? 

 I’ll await your answers…

 

To those who wish churches to direct government: Be careful what you wish for.

US Representative from Colorado, Lauren Boebert,  told congregation she’s “tired of this separation of church and state junk” 

 "Just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, Colorado’s Western Slope Rep. Lauren Boebert said churches should direct the government, not the other way around."

It's not just Boebert who would like to see "The Church" (which one, they never say) direct the government. The Trumpublicans and far-right bloggers complain that religion in America (and Europe) is losing adherents: They blame that loss on all manner of troubles we face and rail against America becoming more secular.

What they never report is what happens when governments are run by religion.

This is what happens:

"This week marked the 330th anniversary of the execution of eight people in Salem, Massachusetts, on charges of witchcraft. 

Eventually, all eight were exonerated. The last of them, a woman named Elizabeth Johnson, was cleared only last August 3. Johnson was reprieved by Gov. William Phips and lived to be 77." 

"Iranian women are burning their hijabs and cutting their hair short in protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by Iran's notorious "morality police," who enforce the country's rules on hijabs and other conservative Islamic modes of dress and behavior."

These male politicians are pushing for women who receive abortions to be punished with prison time 

 "A businessman turned state representative from rural Oil City, Louisiana, and a Baptist pastor banded together earlier this year on a radical mission. They were adamant that a woman who receives an abortion should receive the same criminal consequences as one who drowns her baby. Under a bill they promoted, pregnant people could face murder charges even if they were raped or doctors determined the procedure was needed to save their own life. 

Doctors who attempted to help patients conceive through in-vitro fertilization, a fertility treatment used by millions of Americans, could also be locked up for destroying embryos, and certain contraception such as Plan B would be banned."

N. Carolina Bill Proposing Women Who Get Abortions Be Executed Sparks Fury 

 The Far-Right Christian Quest for Power: 

‘We Are Seeing Them Emboldened’ 

Political candidates on the fringe mix religious fervor with conspiracy theories, even calling for the end of the separation of church and state.

"Three weeks before he won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano stood beside a three-foot-tall painted eagle statue and declared the power of God. “Any free people in the house here? Did Jesus set you free?” he asked, revving up the dozens before him on a Saturday afternoon at a Gettysburg roadside hotel. 

 Mr. Mastriano, a state senator, retired Army colonel and prominent figure in former President Donald J. Trump’s futile efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, was addressing a far-right conference that mixed Christian beliefs with conspiracy theories, called Patriots Arise. Instead of focusing on issues like taxes, gas prices or abortion policy, he wove a story about what he saw as the true Christian identity of the nation, and how it was time, together, for Christians to reclaim political power."

[skip] 

 The separation of church and state was a “myth,” he said. “In November we are going to take our state back, my God will make it so.”

The Trumpublican Party and the far-right bloggers who bemoan the loss of religion in America never talk about what their fanatical religious compatriots wish to inflict on our secular nation.

Religious fervor and all that encompasses is a danger to our country. We are a nation of many religions and NO religion.

Vote to keep it that way.

Keep religion out of government. Look at countries like Iran and Afghanistan to see how it destroys individual freedoms.

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

Jim Sciutto @jimsciutto 

 This is a direct quote from Trump: 

“If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify ... even by thinking about it.”

via GIPHY

Ex-President Trump claims he declassified top secret documents just by THINKING them declassfied!

 

Yeah. He really said that!

“There doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it... You’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it.” 

 When he was pressed further, he insisted he had declassified the documents in question when he left the White House, again without pointing to proof of such. 

 “In other words, when I left the White House, they [the documents] were declassified,”

SHAZAM!!!

 .

 

Breaking: Trump Sued for Fraud by New York Attorney General 

In the culmination of a yearslong investigation and a series of legal skirmishes, Letitia James accused the former president of systematically misstating the value of his properties. 

The lawsuit accuses the former president of profiting from a ‘staggering’ fraud.

NY AG James

@NewYorkStateAG

·

5h

Today, I filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for engaging in years of financial fraud to enrich himself, his family, and the Trump Organization.  There aren't two sets of laws for people in this nation: former presidents must be held to the same standards as everyday Americans.

This brochure was handed to the Venezuelan asylum seekers. LEGAL asylum seekers.

"A fake brochure promising eight months cash assistance, food, job training/placement, help with housing + more was given to migrants who were lured by @GovRonDeSantis into boarding a flight to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts." --Marisa Kabas 

Popular Information has obtained documentary evidence that migrants from Venezuela were provided with false information to convince them to board flights chartered by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). The documents suggest that the flights were not just a callous political stunt but potentially a crime.

When you use lies to make people get on a bus or plane, isn't that called human trafficking?  Isn't that a felony?

 

BREAKING NEWS:

Judge Dearie just destroyed Trump’s previous defense that the documents were “declassified” saying the matter is over, and he will consider them CLASSIFIED.

And... 

"The Special Master, Judge Raymond Dearie also announced today that Trump's Mar-A-Lago Case Hearings will be open to the public, emphasizing just how much the Trump Team miscalculated the special master ruling."

 

Am I the only one who's horrified by this?

 

The Trumpublican politicians are concerned about what's going on at the border.

They ignore what's going on within it.

Nazis in New York City, 1939:

Trump supporters in Youngstown, Ohio, this past weekend, 2022:

Joyce Alene

@JoyceWhiteVance

·

5m

It's increasingly impossible to ignore the symbolism or to believe it's unintentional.

We need the historical reminder and parallel. 

We are at a turning point in history, and we have to be willing to call out this propaganda and acts of fascism for what it is. 

We have to be bold and speak out. 

We cannot be silent. 

Our democracy demands it.

 

JFK Library 

@JFKLibrary 

To embarrass Northern liberals and humiliate Black people, southern White Citizens Councils started their so-called "Reverse Freedom Rides," giving Black people one-way tickets to northern cities with false promises of jobs, housing, and better lives.

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

I have to comment on DeSantis's publicity stunt with human beings

 

This is what DeSantis hoped his inhumane stunt would deliver:

But there was no "meltdown." The people of Martha's Vineyard treated DeSantis's human pawns as human beings, and showed them love and compassion.

The reality is that the year-round residents of Martha's Vineyard are NOT "rich and famous." The island attracts the wealthy in the few months of summer, but it is a working-class population off-season just like the rest of Cape Cod. The year-round residents are fishermen and other tradesmen and women. It is true that a lot of the real estate is owned by the very wealthy, but the overwhelming population is not the "rich and famous." 

I read that one resident who owned a pizza place provided all of the immigrants with pizza for dinner last night. but that's probably not what Faux Nooz meant by a "meltdown."

Median earnings in last 12 months by town, 2010–2016* 

Source: American Community Survey 4-year estimates 2010 2012 2014 2016 

                   2010          2012         2014         2016

Aquinnah   $34,567    $36,438    $25,875     $30,722 

Chilmark    $29,300     $24,444    $24,625     $26,167 

Edgartown  $31,466       $31,509    $36,889     $40,252 

Gosnold      $22,273       $25,395     $26,875    $31,857 

Oak Bluffs   $27,436      $46,489     $50,777    $52,554 

Tisbury        $31,315       $35,373      $38,942    $31,807 

W. Tisbury    $39,570       $39,886      $31,939    $36,526 

The good people of Martha's Vineyard welcomed the refugees seeking food, shelter, and human kindness and they were helped by these decent, loving Americans of good will.

DeSantis's stunt will backfire on him. 

Cathy Murphy☘️ @Catrina612 · 

I watched the story on @MSNBC this morning. Granted, they had no notice and having to provide humanitarian care at a moment’s notice was difficult, but they saw these people as human beings in need. @RonDeSantisFL saw them as political pawns.

Dylan Fernandes

@RepDylan

· 15h

Our island jumped into action putting together 50 beds, giving everyone a good meal, providing a play area for the children, making sure people have the healthcare and support they need. We are a community that comes together to support immigrants.

Brin

@BrinThomson

·

6h

Replying to

@RonFilipkowski

Except instead of having a melt down, Dems provided these people with shelter, food, medical care, and more. Sounds like when Republicans have a problem they respond with spite and pettiness and Democrats spring into action to resolve the issue. Way to go, Massachusetts!

Charlie Sykes

@SykesCharlie

·

1h

“Those planes were filled with actual human beings. People with hopes and dreams. People with names and families. And this Christian man used them as props. He didn’t clothe the naked or feed the hungry. He literally did the opposite.”

I’m sure that the $12 million that DeSantis spent on this stunt could have been better spent in own state. Ironically, I’m sure Martha’s Vineyard will welcome these people with help and hospitality. 

In retrospect, these immigrants got a very lucky plane ride.