Now that it’s finished censuring Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and stripping him of his committee assignments, the House will turn its attention back to the reconciliation bill.
Continue reading “The Sausage Making: House Aims To Pass Reconciliation Bill This Week”Jury Enters Day Two Of Deliberations In Rittenhouse Murder Trial
Following a full day of deliberations Tuesday, the jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse case will reconvene this morning and head back into discussions. The jury was mostly quiet on the first day, sending just two notes to the judge throughout the course of the day, asking for extra copies of instructions.
A few dozen protesters gathered outside the courthouse on Tuesday, both those in support of Rittenhouse and those advocating for the teen’s conviction — he’s been charged with five felonies, including first degree reckless homicide. While Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) put hundreds of National Guard troops outside Kenosha on standby earlier this week, the Kenosha sheriff’s department said Tuesday it wasn’t expecting to take any extreme measures yet — like curfews or road closures — as the country awaits a verdict. The Rittenhouse homicide trial has been ongoing for two weeks. It remains unclear if the jury will be able to reach a verdict today.
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Fly High, Mitch. You’re A Crow Now.
For someone who’s frequently mocked as a turtle, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) somehow earned a new nickname by former President Trump — one that took him to a higher place.
McConnell is apparently now a “broken old crow.”
So says Trump, who recently offered the new moniker as part of his ongoing ire toward McConnell, who he is still mad at for voting alongside 18 other GOP senators to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill. He’s also mad McConnell helped Democrats raise the debt ceiling.
Continue reading “Fly High, Mitch. You’re A Crow Now.”Gosar Censured For Tweeting Out Anime Video Of Himself Killing AOC, Attacking Biden
The House censured Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) Wednesday, stripping him of his committee assignments for posting an animated video of himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and attacking President Joe Biden on his social media accounts.
Continue reading “Gosar Censured For Tweeting Out Anime Video Of Himself Killing AOC, Attacking Biden”Bannon Pleads Not Guilty To Contempt Of Congress
Steve Bannon pleaded not guilty to two counts of contempt of Congress, according to a Wednesday court filing.
Continue reading “Bannon Pleads Not Guilty To Contempt Of Congress”Meet The New Artist Taking Trumpworld By Storm
There’s a new MAGA artist in town.
Continue reading “Meet The New Artist Taking Trumpworld By Storm”Feds Raid Home Of Trumpy Colorado Clerk Under Scrutiny After Election Data Leak
This post has been updated.
FBI agents on Tuesday raided the home of a Trumpy Colorado county clerk already under state investigation after a leak of sensitive election information to a major QAnon influencer and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
Continue reading “Feds Raid Home Of Trumpy Colorado Clerk Under Scrutiny After Election Data Leak”You Have to Tell Your Story
Messaging is generally the most overrated aspect of electoral politics. But it’s not nothing. And Democrats need to do better at it. I just wrote a way too long post on this. But it really comes down to this. President Biden has to learn a lesson from President Trump and brag more about the economy. A lot more. And do it consistently. In every public setting. And about COVID too.
Job reports have been up and down this year. But they’ve actually been consistently revised upward after the fact. That’s happened every month for the last six months for a total of 625,000 additional new jobs. In August the number doubled. But this gets drowned out. Revisions of earlier months don’t make headlines. That’s life. But the power of the presidency is to push these things to the front of the conversation.
Continue reading “You Have to Tell Your Story”GOP Rep Cheerfully Takes Credit For BIF After Voting Against It
Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) had made absolutely clear that he did not approve of the bipartisan infrastructure bill (BIF) when it passed the House in early November, no sir!
Continue reading “GOP Rep Cheerfully Takes Credit For BIF After Voting Against It”Convicted GOPer Tried To Legislate Himself Out Of Prison
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
There Was An Attempt
Former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard (R), who is serving a 28-month prison sentence on felony ethics charges, allegedly schemed to have language added to a prison bill during the legislature’s special session in September that would lead to his release.
- Unfortunately for Hubbard, he couldn’t gather enough support for his proposed language in the Alabama Senate, so that plot went nowhere, state prosecutors allege in a new filing.
- Hubbard’s Plan B allegedly was (and currently still is) is a disinformation campaign to circulate a shady law review article about Alabama’s ethics law that aimed to bolster his case for release, according to the prosecutors.
- Hubbard’s gambits were cited in prosecutors’ filing opposing his motion for an early release. The prosecutors argued that the ex-lawmaker was not, in fact, sorry for his crimes despite what he told the judge.
- Hubbard allegedly used special code names for different players in his schemes:
- “The Quarterback” for his wife, Susan Hubbard
- “Hospital CEO/Chief Hospital Official” for the judge
- “Head Doctors/Physicians/Surgeons” for Hubbard’s new attorneys
- “Martians/Taliban” for state law enforcement officers
- By the way, all of this was on tape. The former lawmaker blabbed about the plots during recorded phone calls to friends and family from prison, where they make it very obvious that all phone calls are recorded.
- Fun fact: Hubbard was convicted under the very state ethics law that he helped pass, according to AL.com.
Gosar Faces The Music
The House will vote to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and strip him of his two committee assignments today over his violent video depicting him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
- Gosar will be removed from the House Oversight Committee, where Ocasio-Cortez also sits. He’ll also lose his other spot on the Natural Resources Committee.
- Ocasio-Cortez argued yesterday that Gosar ought to be straight-up expelled from the chamber, but also that censure and losing his committee assignments was the “next appropriate step” for punishment given that GOP leaders are “too cowardly to really enforce any standard of conduct.”
- Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) confirmed on Tuesday evening that he would vote “yes” on the resolution. He and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) are the only Republicans who’ve explicitly backed censuring Gosar.
- Gosar insisted yesterday that he didn’t apologize for the video.
FBI Raids Home Of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters
The FBI searched the home of Mesa County, Colorado Clerk Tina Peters on Tuesday in the investigation into her allegedly leaking 2020 election data that ended up in QAnon circles online.
- The authorities took all of Peters’ electronics, including her phone, after searching her house for about three hours, the clerk said during an appearance on MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s TV channel last night.
- The FBI also searched the homes of three of Peters’ associates, one of whom was far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) former campaign manager.
- Peters, who’s openly peddled false conspiracy theories claiming that the election was rigged against Trump, has been banned by a Colorado judge from running the county’s elections this year.
Anti-BIF GOPer Takes Credit For BIF
Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) is delighted to announce that the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill that he voted against and complained was “recklessly expensive” will fund his Northern Beltline project, which “will benefit the entire region and enhance economic development and employment opportunities.”
New Deadline For GOP Hostage-Taking
The U.S. government will hit the debt ceiling by Dec. 15, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen estimated yesterday.
Hawley The Obstruction King Wannabe
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has voted for only four of 118 Biden nominees on the Senate floor, fewer than any other GOP senator.
- His “no” votes don’t actually block the confirmations from proceeding, but they do drag out the process.
- The four exceptions have been:
- Cecilia Elena Rouse, the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers
- Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative
- Lisa Monaco, the deputy attorney general
- Lina Khan, the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission.
- Hawley vowed in September to vote against all of Biden’s nominees for State and Defense department positions unless Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan resigned over the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Daniel Goldman Launches Bid For New York AG
The lawyer who led House Democrats’ impeachment investigation into Trump’s Ukraine plot eons ago announced yesterday that he’s running for New York attorney general.
- Daniel Goldman’s video announcement emphasized his role in the watershed first impeachment of Trump and included an endorsement from House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-CA).
- Remember the moment during one of the hearings when Goldman asked then-Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland about telling Trump that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky loved his ass?
Must-Reads
“Kyle Rittenhouse Is An American” – Gawker
“In Another Trump Book, a Journalist’s Belated Awareness Steals the Show” – The New York Times
You Get A Booster, And You Get A Booster!
The Food and Drug Administration plans to authorize Pfizer’s COVID-19 booster shot for all adults as soon as this Thursday.
WTF Is Going On Here
The Los Angeles Staples Center is changing its name in a $700 million naming rights deal to … Crypto.com Arena, as in the cryptocurrency platform for exchanging Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
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