Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), one of the 10 House members who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection, announced his retirement Tuesday morning.
Continue reading “Yet Another Republican Congressman Who Voted To Impeach Trump Announces Retirement”Oh Look, Yet Another Former Trump Official Seems To Have Done A Voter Fraud
Matt Mowers, a former State Department official under the Trump administration who’s now running against Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) as a GOP challenger, cast ballots in two states in the 2016 GOP presidential primaries, records obtained by the Associated Press reveal.
Continue reading “Oh Look, Yet Another Former Trump Official Seems To Have Done A Voter Fraud”How The Kremlin Dehumanizing Ukraine Set The Stage For Bucha
On Feb. 26, when Russian tanks were supposed to be rolling into Kyiv, state news outlet RIA Novosti briefly published an article prematurely proclaiming the capture of Ukraine’s capital.
Continue reading “How The Kremlin Dehumanizing Ukraine Set The Stage For Bucha”GOP Starts To Cannibalize Itself With Unhinged QAnon-Flavored Accusations
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
When Did This Become Normal?
The power and rancidness of QAnon is being turned against the GOP’s own, and it ain’t pretty.
After Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) announced they would support the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s to the Supreme Court, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) started trafficking in the most vile of QAnon tropes:
For context: GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee spent weeks accusing Jackson of being lenient on child-sex offenders, in a not-so-subtle QAnon callback. Now comes Greene and others saying the quiet part out loud. (Fun fact #1: Greene is buddies with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who’s currently under investigation for alleged sex trafficking involving a 17-year-old.)
Sean Davis and Mollie Hemingway, the CEO and editor-in-chief of the conservative Federalist, respectively, both made similar comments on Monday. (Fun fact #2: The Federalist published multiple pieces in 2017 arguing why people should vote for then-Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore regardless of several women’s accusations that he had molested them when they were teens.)
Navarro And Scavino Contempt Charge Referral Moves To Full House Vote
The House Rules Committee voted on Monday to bring the House Jan. 6 Committee’s recommendation for criminal contempt charges against ex-Trump officials Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino to the House for a full vote.
House Jan. 6 Panel Less Interested In Talking To Pence Now
House Jan. 6 Committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told reporters on Monday that the panel is making “no effort” to get former Vice President Mike Pence to testify.
- The committee now believes it has enough to go on with reports of Trumpland’s efforts to pressure Pence to steal the 2020 election, Thompson said, “So what is it we need?”
- However, a subpoena for Pence isn’t off the table, sources from the committee told CNN.
Maryland GOP Guv Signs Dems’ New District Map
After a judge ruled that the congressional district map drawn by Maryland Democrats had been gerrymandered and subsequently tossed it out, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed a new map on Monday that’s likely to keep the state’s partisan makeup looking about the same as before, according to the New York Times.
- The rejected map would’ve given Democrats seven safe districts and gutted a red district to make it more competitive.
- Maryland is one of two states whose Democrat-drawn map was struck down in the courts over partisan gerrymandering. The other is New York, though the fight over the Empire State’s proposed map is still ongoing.
Judge Allows New York Dems’ Maps To Stay For Now
A New York appellate judge on Monday paused a lower court’s order to toss out New York Democrats’ congressional and legislative district maps.
- That means the new district lines, drawn to heavily favor Democrats, will remain in place for the time being, and that New York’s June primary will move forward as planned.
- The judge stated that he anticipated making a final decision on the maps within three weeks, if not sooner. He ordered the Democrats and Republicans in the case to attend a hearing this Thursday.
Accusations Of Russian War Atrocities In Ukraine Pile Up
- New York Times: “Detentions, beating and mock executions: Life in one town under Russian occupation.”
- The Washington Post: “Town by town, Ukrainian prosecutors build Russian war crimes cases”
- CNN: “Zelensky says negotiations with Putin might not happen after accusing Moscow of genocide”
Colorado Enshrines Abortion Rights In State Law
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) on Monday signed legislation by the state’s Democrat-controlled legislature that guarantees access to abortion even if the conservative Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade.
- The new law marks another move by blue/blue-leaning states to protect against Republicans’ full-fledged war on abortion rights, especially with SCOTUS seemingly poised to gut Roe soon through the Mississippi abortion case.
Must Read
“Leaked: New Amazon Worker Chat App Would Ban Words Like ‘Union,’ ‘Restrooms,’ ‘Pay Raise,’ And ‘Plantation’” – The Intercept
Fake Trump Elector Is On The Ballot
Kelly Ruh, one of the dozens of sham electors Trump and his cronies had assembled in several states in their scheme to steal the 2020 election, is running for reelection as a city council member in De Pere, Wisconsin in the state’s local elections today.
- A Wisconsin MAGA activist who organized a local “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6 last year is running for city council, too.
Youngkin Holds A Dog’s Ear
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed five bills yesterday known collectively as “the Beagle Bills” that bolster anti-cruelty protections for dogs and cats that get bred for experimental purposes.
It’s a genuine bright spot amid Youngkin’s grim war on critical race theory, though the accompanying photo-op seemed to be a struggle for the governor:
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Remarkable
A gruesome, horrifying topic but also a stunning, remarkable piece of data, visual and explanatory journalism. The Russian defense ministry has released a statement claiming that the bodies of executed civilians left on the streets of Bucha in Ukraine are another Ukrainian “provocation,” a hoax engineered by Ukraine meant to discredit Russia. They claim that the killings happened after the Russian army evacuated the city. The Times has an article that graphically and dramatically refutes these claims. You’ve likely seen those videos of drive-throughs through the shattered city in which the bodies, most shot execution style and many with bound hands, are visible on the side of the road. Times journalists cross-referenced these harrowing videos with satellite imagery which shows very clearly that the bodies were there when the town was under Russian occupation. It feels unseemly to to be so praiseful of something that is about chilling war crimes. But the work is still remarkable. The dispositive nature of the refutation is hard to fully appreciate without seeing it. See it here.
GOP Mugs For The Camera Ahead Of Vote On Jackson Nomination
The Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting Monday to vote on Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. While Jackson has found Republican support elsewhere in the form of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the committee Republicans seem disinclined to vote for her, setting up a potential tie. Democrats would be able to circumvent a tie with a “motion to discharge,” dislodging her nomination to the full Senate after a few hours of debate. There, it seems certain that she’ll ultimately be confirmed.
It’ll be the end of a frequently contentious confirmation hearing for Jackson, with some GOP members clinging to a debunked line of attack based on her sentencing in child pornography cases. Still, the most important revelations came not in connection to Jackson’s record, but in the precedent Republicans said they want the Supreme Court to go after next: same-sex marriage, access to birth control and even interracial marriage.
House Rules Committee Votes To Advance Contempt Charges Against Navarro And Scavino
The House Rules Committee voted on Monday to advance the Jan. 6 Select Committees’s criminal contempt referrals of former Trump White House officials Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino to the full House.
Continue reading “House Rules Committee Votes To Advance Contempt Charges Against Navarro And Scavino”Where Things Stand: New Social Site About As Functional As His White House
Who could’ve seen this coming/Only the best people/You’re fired/etc.
I wrote earlier this year about the deliciously glitchy roll-out of former President Trump’s new social media app, which he created to spite Facebook and Twitter for daring to ban him after he used their platforms to incite his violent insurrection. Back in February, the Trump Media & Technology Group’s CEO (and former U.S. representative from California) Devin Nunes — who has also made a name for himself whining about Twitter and cows and left Congress to take on this Trump social task — predicted Trump’s new social site would need another month past its launch date to be fully functional.
But, it’s been more than a month since Truth Social weathered its disastrous debut. Things haven’t improved much.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: New Social Site About As Functional As His White House”Ohio Supreme Court Mulls Contempt For Top Republicans Amid Redistricting Power Grab
The most powerful politicians in Ohio are apparently willing to risk being held in contempt of court if it means they can pass state legislative maps gerrymandered in their own favor.
Continue reading “Ohio Supreme Court Mulls Contempt For Top Republicans Amid Redistricting Power Grab”Senate Judiciary Committee Ties On Jackson, Who Is Still On Track To Be Confirmed
The evenly-split Senate Judiciary Committee came to a tie vote Monday on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court, though she’s still securely on the path to confirmation.
Continue reading “Senate Judiciary Committee Ties On Jackson, Who Is Still On Track To Be Confirmed”