Tag Archives: MAGA

national news

GOP gnashes its own throat

What in the world is happening to what passes for a once-great political party? Republicans cannot seem to rally around political leaders of any stripe, or so it seems.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a MAGA darling of the first order, is taking heat from those on the MAGA right wing of the party. Why? Beats the dickens out of me, man!

Former Fox propaganda network blowhard Tucker Carlson has gone after Johnson. According to Newsweek.com: On Thursday night, the House passed a proposal by Johnson that pairs $14.3 billion in emergency funding for Israel with $14.3 billion in cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The measure passed 226-196, largely along party lines, with most Republicans supporting the bill and most Democrats objecting.

Carlson is trying to shake something out of Johnson that suggests the speaker is “prioritizing” foreign aid to Israel … whatever the hell it all means.

My point in all of this is that Speaker Mike Johnson says he wants to be speaker for “all Americans,” but he cannot seem to rein in the disparate elements within his own party.

As for the IRS cuts, let’s remember that the more you gut from the budget of the tax-revenue-supported agency, the fewer dollars the government is going to receive to pay for the myriad government programs that Americans say they want and support.

The MAGA cult is learning in real time how difficult it is to operate a government as complex as the machinery that makes the government of the world’s greatest nation.

Then again, the MAGA cultists who call the shots in the House are more interested in making noise than in crafting laws.

military news

Tuberville: Sen. Dumbass

Tommy Tuberville has distinguished himself in a most unflattering fashion, by establishing his place as the dumbest member of the United States Senate.

The Alabama Republican has finally — finally! — begun drawing the ire of his GOP colleagues over his insane, foolish and patently stupid campaign to use the military as a forum to express his strong views against abortion.

Because Senate rules allow it, Tuberville has single-handedly blocked the promotions of hundreds of senior military officers. They include the installation of the Marine Corps commandant as well as other general-grade and field-grade officers throughout the military.

Now we are hearing from a handful of GOP senators who say that “enough is enough.”

Tuberville dislikes the military’s willingness to provide abortion counseling for military personnel who might want to terminate a pregnancy. That’s a non-starter for Tuberville, who is so adamantly opposed to abortion that he is willing to compromise our nation’s military preparedness just to make a political point.

Sen. Dumbass must end this foolishness. The Senate needs to revoke the rule that empowers this stupid behavior and imperils the readiness of the greatest military powerhouse in world history.

I accept his opposition to abortion. But to hold the military high command hostage to his opposition is (a) stupid politics, (b) dangerous to our national security and (c) makes zero sense … given all the other political options that Dumbass can exercise if he wants to end abortion.

national news

GOP pols wising up?

Can it be that the Republican congressional caucus is wising up to the “Big Lie” and the party’s refusal to acknowledge the truth?

Two key GOP House members today announced their intention to step down when their current terms expire at the end of 2024: Ken Buck of Colorado and Kay Granger from over yonder in Fort Worth.

Buck’s announcement contained a criticism of GOP officeholders who continue to adhere to the Big Lie, that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. He said the GOP’s refusal to concede that President Biden is the real deal has inhibited its ability to advance its legislative agenda.

He’s had enough, Buck said.

Granger said it is time for new leaders to emerge. She is 80 years old and has been a force among GOP House members.

The party needs to be revived, to return to its former self as a serious political organization, not a cult wedded to the dictatorial fantasies of a lying, cheating, philandering business mogul.

Buck and Granger might not signal that the tide is turning against the cult leader. Then again … they might perhaps will trigger more statements of indignation against those who foment the Big Lie.

local news

Take it back … from whom?

Understanding that I live near the heart of Donald Trump Country, I still was taken aback today at the sight of a pickup festooned with Trump stickers with assorted slogans.

One of them had a “Trump 2024” insignia emblazoned with the phrase, “Take it back.”

My first thought? From whom do we want to retrieve the country? From an administration that has experienced the greatest job growth in history? From a president who has firmed up our international alliances against blatant aggression in Ukraine? From a government that seeks to foment democracy over autocracy?

These all speak to the kind of demagogic lies that the MAGA crowd keeps blustering, that the country somehow has been hijacked by those who want to obey the rule of law, who want to restore “regular order” in our legislative process, who do the bidding of Americans and not the moneyed special interests.

What slays me, too, is that the owner of the pickup reportedly is a proud Marine and yet Donald Trump has called those of us who have worn our country’s military uniform “suckers” and “losers.”

What a pair of chumps … Donald Trump and his devoted North Texas Marine.

local news

Far-right PAC sullies race

As if voters of a North Texas legislative district need an extra push to elect a far-right winger to the state House of Representatives.

But, by gum, that’s what is happening in the House District 2 campaign to find a successor to a right-wing extremist legislator whom the House expelled after he was caught having sex with an underage staffer in Austin.

Former state Rep. Bryan Slaton of Royse City got the boot from the Legislature. Voters in HD 2 are choosing someone to succeed him. Enter onto the stage Defend Texas Liberty, a far-right PAC whose former leader, Nick Fuentes, was seen in the company of a white supremacist.

Defend Texas Liberty is sinking its talons into the race by pumping cash into the campaign of Brent Money. The PAC also reportedly has tossed money at Jill Dutton, Money’s major Republican foe.

The Texas Tribune reports: “Nick Fuentes states openly that he ‘will destroy the GOP,’” Dutton campaign spokesperson Matt Brownfield said in a statement. “In that respect, he shares the same objective as Defend Texas Liberty PAC, who has spent millions of dollars attacking conservative Republicans like Jill Dutton and Greg Abbott. 

You may count me as one American patriot who simply detests these far-right extremists. They ought to take their poison elsewhere and not infect so many of Texas’s already conservative legislative districts. House District 2 voters seemingly would need little to push them to the far-right fringes of political thought.

Defend Texas Liberty gets involved in race to replace Bryan Slaton | The Texas Tribune

Since the focus of Defend Texas Liberty centers on Money and Dutton, perhaps four other hopefuls can sneak their way to the front the pack. The other Republicans in the contest are Heath Hyde, Doug Roszhart and Krista Schild. Democrat, Kirsten Washington, is also running.

Hey, one can hope.

national news

Hope dashed with speaker pick

My hope all along during the House speaker kerfuffle was that the competing wings within the Republican Party could find a compromise candidate, someone who would pledge to work with all the members of the House.

That’s not what they got in Speaker Mike Johnson. Oh, no. They got a MAGA acolyte who wants to ban abortion nationwide, who continues to challenge the legitimacy of President Biden’s election in 2020, who questions whether we should continue to fund Ukraine’s battle for independence against the Russian aggressors and who seemingly sides with those who want to shut down the government.

The MAGA clowns turned on the lights in the back of the House chamber and found the congressional newbie who fits their description of the near-perfect House speaker.

What a shame. And a sham!

I heard MAGA Mike declare upon taking the oath that he would be the speaker for the entire legislative chamber. Doesn’t that imply he would be willing work with Democrats along with Republicans? It does to me.

Then again, how does that square with the MAGA goons’ stated mission to avoid working with Democrats? That’s what got former Speaker Kevin McCarthy into trouble, right? He locked arms with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown and then — presto! — we had the motion to vacate the speaker’s chair. It came from a single MAGA congressman, Matt Gaetz of Florida.

Ladies and gents, what we have now is a speaker who will serve only a small minority of the majority party in the House. To hell with public opinion of the rest of the country that opposes a national abortion, opposes shutting down the government, wants to continue supporting Ukraine and believes Joe Biden was elected fairly, squarely and legally as president in 2020.

God help us!

national news

MAGA Mike becomes speaker

What do we call the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives? I think I’ll settle on MAGA Mike.

I should be happy that the People’s House now has a leader. I am not happy. Speaker Mike Johnson moved from the darkest of shadows into the spotlight quite literally overnight.

Today, with the entire GOP House caucus backing him, MAGA Mike emerged from the way-back bench to become the person who is third in line to become president of the United States of America.

What’s more, we have handed the gavel — and all the power it symbolizes — to an individual who continues to challenge the fact that Joe Biden was elected president of the United States in 2020 and that Donald Trump lost.

Yep, this is the nation’s first MAGA speaker of the House. He emerged after yet another embarrassing sequence of failed votes, of party nominees accepting the GOP call only to quit. The MAGA cult continued to make demands on the individuals it would support.

Then came Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. He was elected to the House in 2016. He’s been re-elected three times. He doesn’t serve as a front-line leader on any committee. He’s just … there! Johnson shows up, given credence to Woody Allen’s credo that “95% of success starts when you just show up.”

Don’t look for Speaker Johnson to get rid of the rule that forced Kevin McCarthy out of the speakership, the one that empowers just a single House member to call for a vote to kick the speaker out of office. It was a MAGA demand that enabled McCarthy to be elected speaker in the first place — and it did him in.

So now we have MAGA Mike calling the shots in the House.

Is this a time to cheer? Hardly.

I’m going to pray for our country.

national news

Clown show loses another one

The congressional Republican clown show keeps losing its yuksters, apparently because they have had enough of the laughs their show keeps producing.

Get a load of this: Rep. Tom Emmer came out of a closed-door Republican voting session as the party’s latest nominee to become speaker of the U.S. House … only to tell his fellow Republicans — three hours later! — that he doesn’t want the job after all.

What the hell? Oh, but wait. House Republicans nominated Emmer anyway reluctantly after five votes among members of the GOP caucus.

It’s been three weeks since the MAGA cult booted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy out of his office. Republicans then turned to Rep. Steve Scalise, who then dropped out. Up stepped bomb-thrower Rep. Jim Jordan to seek the speakership; three failed House floor votes ended his bid to become the Man of the House.

Then we saw Rep. Emmer rise … only to take a header.

This is a case of a once-great political party being unable to find its backside with both hands.

Once more with gusto: the Republican Party has been seized by the crazed cult that marches to the cadence called by the immediate past POTUS, the clown who says the 2020 election was rigged.

These bozos cannot govern! They intimidate themselves and seek to bully others. They cannot even nominate one of their fellow Republicans to lead a legislative chamber — in which they hold the slimmest majority.

I have to mention that a boatload of important work needs to get done. Let’s see: How about that government shutdown thing? We’ve only got a few days before the government runs out of money. Will the House of Representatives GOP clown show gather itself in time to find someone — anyone! — who wants to take what looks like the worst job in America?

Doubt is creeping in.

national news

How do we repair Congress?

The People’s House is in serious disarray, starting with the top of its leadership chain of command … namely because no one is on duty to bark out orders and demand members to do the right thing.

Thanks to intransigence by the MAGA cabal, the House has now gone almost three weeks without a speaker. He or she is responsible for setting the legislative agenda and for keeping the troops in line to enact legislation.

The MAGA gang forced former Speaker Kevin McCarthy to accept too many restrictions. He paid the price by performing the unconscionable act of working with Democrats to forge a deal to prevent a government shutdown.

No can do, Mr. Speaker, said the MAGA goons. One of them filed a motion to remove McCarthy and it worked. He’s out. It’s been a certifiable clusterf*** ever since!

The House of Reps is broken. It has been shattered because the MAGA cult is not interested in governing. It is interested in obstructing, in making headlines, of proving political points.

How do we repair Congress? Here’s an idea: Vote every single one of the MAGA cultists out of office in 2024 and replace them with politicians who know how government is supposed to work and are willing to operate its complicated machinery.

local news

No ‘trampling’ of conservatives!

Ted Cruz has it exactly wrong when he says that “conservative values” are being trampled.

The junior US senator from Texas issued a statement endorsing Caroline Fairly in her run for the Texas House District 87 seat being vacated by Four Price of Amarillo. He said this:

“An Amarillo native, community leader, and passionate conservative, Caroline Fairly understands that at a time when our conservative values are being trampled on, there is nothing more important than standing up and fighting for our Texan way of life. Caroline is dedicated to ensuring that the Panhandle remains a strong beacon of conservative, Texan values, which is why I am proud to endorse her for Texas House District 87.”

I do not know where on this good Earth the Cruz Missile believes “conservative values are being trampled on.” It sure ain’t in Texas. Not in the Legislature, or among Texas’s congressional delegation, or the courts (which we elect in this state on partisan ballots).

If anyone can complain about their views being trampled, it would progressives in this great state who seemingly cannot get their voices heard above the clamoring on the other side.

If “conservative values were being trampled,” then someone will have to explain how Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton got acquitted of the impeachment charges leveled him.