"For years now, a number of #conservative commentators and #extremist lawmakers have been grumbling that getting #divorced these days is too damn easy and something needs to be done about it to save the sanctity of #marriage and uphold family #values. Which, when you translate it from #Republican-speak to plain English, means: we need to make it easier for men to treat #women like their #property."
…the #judiciary is an equal branch of #government & congressional #Democrats have limited opportunities to enact concrete changes.…
#Republicans, who control the #House, oppose legislation to tighten ethical guidelines for the justices & have portrayed overhaul as a political effort to damage the legitimacy of a #conservative#SCOTUS that has delivered them major victories on #abortion & other issues [+ they worked decades to install this court].
A unanimous consent vote, a largely symbolic effort since it only required a single #Republican to block the measure, was scuttled by Sen. #LindseyGraham (R-SC), who also sits on the #Judiciary Cmte. Graham said the bill threatened the independence of the judiciary.
“Let’s be clear, this is not about improving the court, this is about undermining the court,” Graham said. “This would be an unconstitutional overreach.” [←false]
#HarlanCrow is more than #SCOTUS Justice #ClarenceThomas’s secret patron—he’s also deeply intertwined w/the shadowy world of #Republican#DarkMoney. Crow personally took part in the creation of the post- #CitizensUnited dark money system & secretly helped bankroll some of the groups.
#HarlanCrow’s political spending started long BEFORE #CitizensUnited opened the floodgates for anonymous money…in 2010. 1977—2009, Crow & his cos gave >$2.4M to fed candidates, parties, PACs, & other pol entities.
SINCE Citizens United, he’s REPORTED spending $13.8M on federal #politics. But that’s not all. While it’s impossible to track Crow’s #undisclosed political giving, public info shows longstanding ties to the biggest figures & groups in #Republican#DarkMoney. #SCOTUS#law#ActivistCourt
I can’t mince words when it comes to talking about who Donald #Trump is. It’s important, I think, for people to really refocus on the idea that: Do they really want a president who is a felon who faces jail time? Donald Trump was convicted of 34 counts by a jury of his peers after being held liable for rape, and the discussion at the water cooler is whether that should be an issue in the presidential race. We’re already in the pot, folks. Republicans have been increasing the temperature for eight years. We better hop out soon or it’s going to boil us all to death — Gov JB Pritzker #quotes#quote#ConvictedFelonTrump#AdjudicatedRapist#TwiceImpeached#Unfit#NotWell#Confused#Muddled#Disoriented#CrazyCandidate#Republican#GOP
Sharks, #Trump claimed, were attacking more than usual (not true) & posed a new risk bc boats were being required to use batteries (not true), which cause them to sink bc they’re too heavy (really, really not true—the world’s heaviest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, stays afloat bc of laws of #physics despite weighing >550M lbs).
Still, #Trump appears to be benefiting from the sheer superfluity of crazy. At rallies, the former president makes stream-of-consciousness statements that would raise questions about the mental acuity of anyone who said them at, say, the tail end of a night at a neighborhood bar, but that somehow don’t generate the same level of concern within the #press or the #Republican Party when Trump says them in front of a cheering crowd. #FourthEstate#journalism#media#VeryStableGenius#BidenHarris2024
#Republicans introduce bill to #ban federal #DEI programs
The measure backed by several #GOPlawmakers would also halt federal #funding for agencies, #schools & other orgs that have DEI policies. Republican legislators introduced a bill that would end all federal #diversity, #equity & #inclusion programs, & end funding for government agencies, contractors, schools & other organizations that have their own DEI programs.
#House Speaker #MikeJohnson has a tendency to think that when things go bad for his party, it’s the product of gross legislative mismanagement, judicial #weaponization, & a vast executive #conspiracy. But when his party wants to do something, it’s because #justice is swift & everything is proceeding according to plan. #HouseRepublicans’ efforts to hold AG #MerrickGarland are no exception to this trend.
according to google translate, the translation from #republican to everyday English of 'we want to stop DEI programs' is 'we are corrupt , racist, xenophobic, mysogynistic and homophobic'
While helpful, the provision won’t be a panacea, said Tim Whitehouse, the exec dir of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility [#PEER ], a nonprofit…, which helped advise #AFGE on the #ScientificIntegrity language.
“It will be impossible to fully #Trump-proof any agency or protect any #scientist if Trump wins a new term & either the #House or #Senate is in #Republican control,” Whitehouse said. “Then there will be absolutely no meaningful #oversight.”
'Georgia Is Our Laboratory': Inside Trump's Plan to Rig 2024
Team #Trump sees #Georgia as 'a road map' for putting Trump's heads-I-win-tails-you-lose philosophy of #elections into practice
The Peach State is unique—it's the sole battleground state in which the #Republican Party has total #control over the levers of #power: a trifecta in state #House, #Senate, & governorship
… #MAGA die-hards are devoting considerable resources to purging voter rolls, intimidating #election ofcls, employing #legal dirty tricks, & ousting #Republican ofcls & appointees who haven't been initiated into the cult of #Trump.
Republican operatives have remade #Georgia's state election board, exec branch, Legislature, & legal ecosystems, all in Trump's image. #Conservatives in the state Assembly have unleashed thousands of voter eligibility challenges…turbocharged w/a new #ElectionLaw.
#POTUS, who at 81 is decades younger than the vets he honored during Thurs’s D-Day commemoration, nonetheless found his age & fitness in the spotlight as selectively #edited clips of him circulated online.
D-Day’s 80th quickly became the latest example of the fast spread of #manipulated videos, highlighting the use of #misinformation [#disinformation ] & #ConspiracyTheories in politics.
In #edited videos, #Republican ofcls & allies of #Trump repeatedly tried to turn #Biden’s visit into a highlight reel of senior moments & missteps….Trump, who turns 78 on Fri, has also repeatedly attacked Biden over his age & fitness, & regularly shares videos of the president looking frail. But an examination of video feeds from the events in France, makes clear that the selected clips were edited to present a particularly damaging — & misleading [false] — picture.
Trump's team is more focused so far on building a sprawling network of "#ElectionIntegrity" #lawyers & #PollWatchers than on rounding up organizers & door knockers to reach voters.
It's a sign that 5 months before Election Day, the legal battle is underway —& that Trump PLANS to cry "rigged" if he loses, as it did after the #2020election & his #felony#convictions.
@GottaLaff
I'm sure that decision will be announced last so the corrupt #Republican puppet #SCOTUS can scurry off to catch some billionaire's private jet to a private resort, or possibly an RV showroom.
The #Republican leaders of the House Oversight & Accountability, Judiciary & Ways & Means cmtes sent a letter to the #DOJ recommending the prosecution of #HunterBiden & #JamesBiden….
…Johnson “has named Reps #ScottPerry PA) & #RonnyJackson (TX) to the House Intelligence Cmte. The #Intel Cmte oversees the entire intelligence community & gets some of the most sensitive intelligence about the #US & its allies.”
A 2nd #Trump admin could #weaponize existing government agencies to dismantle democracy itself.
This article is part of “Project 2025: The Plot Against #America,” a Nation special issue devoted to unpacking the right’s vast & chilling program for a 2nd Trump term.
managing elections to benefit himself & his #Republican allies; gutting public broadcasting & constraining #press#freedom; & undermining civil society. #Trump, who…demanded that the results of #Georgia’s 2020…[election] be “recalculated” to give him a win, wants the trappings of #democracy w/o the reality of electoral consequences. That’s what #propaganda experts Edward Herman & Frank Brodhead described as “demonstration elections,” in which…wins are assured for the #authoritarians….
…This is all part of #Project2025’s …vision for restructuring #DOJ so it can be #weaponized by a new #Trump admin when it comes to election-related issues. In Mandate’s chapter on #Justice, Hamilton…proposes reassigning…prosecuting election-related offenses from the #CivilRights Div to the #Criminal Div. Why? So #Republican-generated claims about “fraudulent voter registration,” “mail-in ballot fraud,” &…the various targets of Trump’s #BigLie claims…are “appropriately investigated & prosecuted.”