Cowboy Hats

Roy Moore, (R)  refuses to step out of the Alabama senate race, after credible allegations of sexual misconduct over the years. Republicans in Washington, DC seem a bit flustered, and would rather see a different candidate, one with fewer character flaws, run. Well, well, well.The Trump White House does have a weapon with which to deal with members of Congress and the Senate when it finds itself at odds with representatives of the American people. Does anyone remember the comments of John Kelly,  Trump's Chief of Staff, when he recently attacked Florida Democrat Congresswoman Frederica Wilson? Ms. Wilson thought Donald Trump's remarks to one of her constituents, a gold star widow, were crass and unfeeling. After she said this, the attack from the White House ensued, despite the fact that Wilson represents American citizens.

The solution seems simple: the Trump White House should just badmouth the candidates and representatives it does not like. After all, it is okay to treat an honorable Democrat that way; why not a dishonorable Republican? The truth is, Donald Trump and his staff should not interfere with the electoral choices of any American citizens, but he does, from time to time. He attacks Democrats, and he attacks Republicans who put their constituencies ahead of the Trump agenda. So why not denounce the behavior of someone who is immoral? Roy Moore has a habit of getting removed from office, and does not appear to care about the law, or the American people. What's wrong with speaking about these things, in addition to current allegations, from the White House? Or is the White House only a launch for attacks on decent people, not on those who actually violate the law?

Perhaps the Chief of Staff likes Roy Moore's hat better than he like's Frederica Wilson's hat. Yeah; that's it. Seriously......if the Republican party has problems with individuals such as Roy Moore, it should start putting Americans ahead of agendas that are not good for America. As for those Christian Republicans who keep defending Roy Moore, perhaps someone should ask them why they would stand with someone who truly isn't above reproach.

Trump Threatens Republicans Who Represent Their Districts

Above is an excerpt from the Washington Post, quoting Donald Trump. He is very, very upset with a group of Republican congressmen who voted according to the wishes of their districts on repealing Obamacare, rather than the way Trump pressured them to vote. He thinks that he should threaten Congress to give America what it does not want, and he thinks that representatives are there to serve him, not their constituents.

When did it become Trump's job to "run" someone for Congress in a district where he does not live? It is not the job of Donald Trump to determine by whom other Americans may be represented in Congress, and it is not the job of his supporters to attempt to stick Americans with a country that only delivers threats and corruption, either.

Trump should also consider laying off Twitter. If he has problems getting along with members of his own party, he should either keep it to himself, or learn to get along with them.

Abbie Hoffman Moment

Lying Politicians

 

Above is the Politifact graph depicting the number of lies and truths told by various politicians, in proportion to all of their statements. After fact checking, President Obama is the most honest one to have recently run for president, followed by Hillary Clinton. Like it or not, Democrats have the market cornered on the truth in 2016. Remember the aversion Donald Trump had to fact checking for his first debate with Hillary Clinton?

The Answers Are Blowing In The Wind

 

It looks, after the first presidential debate, as if the answers to the questions that are put to Donald Trump are blowing in the wind, but not coming from the candidate. How could the Republican Party have nominated this man to run for president?

Alice Cooper, A Troubled Man For Troubled Times

So, what happened to Alice Cooper's bid for president? His platform, A Troubled Man For Troubled Times, is perfect, especially for a Republican candidate! This is the funniest thing your blogger has seen all day!

Deplorable Is As Deplorable Does

Hillary Clinton described few of Donald Trump's supporters as a "basket of deplorables". She was not discussing their backgrounds, their lifestyles, or even their appearances; but their behavior. There is a very long list of violent incidents at Trump rallies, and no one else in the presidential race for 2016 has attracted or incited as much violence as Donald Trump. It seems rather obvious that those who openly show support for Trump by attending his events can, at least, be called disorderly; so why has Trump's running mate, former Indiana governor Mike Pence, become irate that Hillary would say such a thing about Trump's supporters? Possibly, because Mike Pence is a lot more fluent in "deplorability." After all, he is the one who used campaign funds during his 1990 run for Congress in Indiana to pay his personal bills. He dropped out of that race because of the resulting scandal.

Maybe while Donald Trump is running his mouth about Hillary Clinton's observations about those who attend his rallies, he could take a minute to wish her a speedy recovery from pneumonia. Not that she won't recover; she certainly will, but isn't it a lot more polite and less deplorable to express concern and well wishes?

Trump Hands Out PlayDoh To Flood Victims

After being asked nicely by Governor John Bel Edwards, of Louisiana, to stay out of heavily flooded southern Louisiana for now, and not to grandstand or use the situation for a photo op, Trump went ahead and graced the state with his presence, anyway. He did not even contact Governor Edwards prior to showing up. Curiously, Mr. Trump did not explain why he thought big boxes of PlayDoh would be useful to people who do not have homes.

 

Donald Trump and Mike Pence distribute PlayDoh to homeless flood victims.

Republican Uses For The War On Drugs

"You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities," Ehrlichman said. "We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." John Erlichman, former aide to Richard Nixon

One has to wonder if the same tactics can work on government agencies.......

The Dirt On The Donald

It's actually about time. And Mr. Trump should have "expected" it. Donald Trump whines about illegal aliens, yet has married two females (your writer hesitates to call them ladies) who were not in America legally. In fact, the first female had defected from her native Czechoslovakia from behind the Iron Curtain. So much for respect of boundaries and citizenship; it is quite clear that Trump either does not mean what he says about it, or thinks that a career as a mail-order bride is a valid path to American citizenship.

Donald Trump also promotes his business savvy. Bankruptcies, at least four, in Trump's case, are permissible in the cases of individuals, but does America wish to force bankruptcy on a generation of children? Is it a way to run a nation? Because such procedures end up in court, the details are naturally open for all to read. If Trump actually secures the Republican nomination, many journalists and publications will proclaim these details, over and over again. It is only a matter of time. "The Donald" should really hope that there was nothing shady or unlawful in any of his past dealings. Remember Geraldine Ferraro and the error in her taxes? What are the chances, given his entire career, that there is unfavorable information concerning Trump's financial history?

How about "The Donald's" manners? Can America trust him to represent her, proudly? His illicit romantic affairs make Bill Clinton's tryst with Monica Lewinsky look puny. Trump even tried to convince a family law court to change the terms of divorce to include stopping his first wife from speaking about him in public, (see above link) but instead was schooled about the First Amendment to America's Constitution. How would he deal with the constant satire to which any public official is subjected? The world is not going to stop turning just for Donald Trump, so it seems that he really should have expected the reaction of Anonymous, along with many a journalist, IRS agent, former spouse, and many others. It's a no-brainer.

South Carolina Responsible Journalism Resgistry Law

Republican South Carolina representative Mike Pitts, pictured above, has sponsored a bill in his state's congress, which will be called the South Carolina Responsible Journalism Registry Law if it gets passed. Before covering matters related to government, a journalist would be required to undergo a background check, similar to the background check required before buying a handgun, to report the news. No one who has written anything controversial, or who has written anything that has garnered complaints about government, petitions, or boycotts would be allowed to cover state events. There would also be a non-refundable fee for the background check to report the news, effecting a charge to tell the truth! Also, every journalist in South Carolina would have to be listed in a registry. Hmm....where has your blogger heard something like this before? This sounds an awful lot like the German Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service in 1933, which was aimed at forcing Jews out of any professional field in Nazi Germany.

This bill is such a gross violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution that it will never pass. Still, the question that needs to be answered is this: why is South Carolina so afraid of writers and journalists?

Abbie Hoffman Moment

Federal Law Applies To Kansas, Too

It's really about time. It has been found that the Constitution grants marriage licenses to all couples, regardless of sexual preference, and that the fourteenth amendment offers legitimacy to the marriages of gay men and women. But Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has a problem with America's Constitution. He refers to the Supreme Court as an "activist court", and promises to "review the ruling carefully to understand it's effects on the people of Kansas." Is he serious? When was this governor ever concerned about the effects of anything on the people of Kansas? From fighting Obamacare tooth and nail to stripping public schools of funds, Brownback has not shown much concern at all about the people of Kansas. But now Kansas will be required to recognize marriage, everyone's marriage. And about de-funding public schools; block grants do not work as well in funding numerous, tiny, redundant schools as they do in funding larger, more efficient, better staffed schools. In order for the type of funding for which the Kansas GOP has opted for the public schools in Kansas, the schools will have to be consolidated, county by county, and answerable to the state, rather then to hundreds of "unified school districts". This would actually be a very good idea for Kansas, but the legislature has put the cart before the horse......the small, community schools should have been shut down and reorganized first, into bigger schools. Then, block grants, rather than the yearly handouts based on the number of students each school contains, would have been more sensible. The Supreme Court in Kansas made a decision for Brownback, though: de-funding education this way is unconstitutional. Brownback has vowed to appeal this decision. It seems he cannot get around the Constitution today!

If Kansas Republicans were truly conservative, the Kansas Department of Education and all of the "unified school districts", along with their schools, would have been in receivership a long time ago. Instead of small schools, serving less than one hundred students from kindergarten to twelfth grade in some cases, schools would be consolidated. Rather than forcing tax payers to fund the lifestyles of three or four high school principals in a county that only has three or four hundred high school students, there would only be one high school principal to pay. We could completely eliminate nonsense positions, such as "curriculum adviser", because the curriculum would be dictated by the state and by national and global standards. Allowing small towns in Kansas to waste money on tiny, inefficient schools is a frivolous waste, and no conservative worth his salt would allow such a thing to continue under his watch.

In other news, a legislative panel has dismissed a charge against Congresswoman Valdenia Winn, D; Wichita, Kansas. It seems that some Kansas Republicans did not like it when she referred to them as "racist bigots" when they tried to deny in-state tuition to immigrants. The Constitution strikes again! This time, with the First Amendment! It appears that the Constitution is sending a message to Kansas bigots today.

Missouri House Texter

The Republican Speaker of the House in Missouri has resigned, because of some texts that were discovered. John Diehl, it seems, was caught in an illicit exchange of sexually charged messages between himself and an intern. These messages were almost certainly backed up by an illicit exchange of sexually charged deeds, and now he will no longer represent the fine, republican folks of Missouri. But he is still quite possibly representative of the fine, republican folks of Missouri.

Now it appears that Todd Richardson will inherit Diehl's deal, complete with the mallet, cell phones, and interns.

What was your serious error, dude? Was it the text messages, or the subject of the text messages?

In Case You Weren't In Church This Sunday

Can Kansas Find Someone Better Than Kris Kobach?

A couple of days ago, the Department of Justice published it's findings that police in the St. Louis, Missouri area do, indeed, have a tendency to ignore the constitutional rights of African Americans. This, naturally, did not brighten Kris Kobach's day. What it has to do with immigration is beyond the imagination of yours truly, but somehow, a gentle listener of some silly-assed conservative radio show has manufactured a connection and called in to share it with Kobach, and he packaged it, without proving it. He put it all together, verbally, in a way that promotes racism and misinformation as usual. Is there anyone who can serve as secretary of state in Kansas without ignoring the constitution and telling not only bold faced lies, but presenting fantasy as truth? This notion that African Americans will cease to face prosecution for any crime may actually serve as proof that Kobach is certifiable and in need of treatment for delusions.

Oh No! Not Mitt Romney The Loser Again!

Anyone remember this loser? The one who stated that half of the people he pretends to care about are not worth anything? Well he's back! Shit Romney doesn't think that losing once is enough, so he's thinking about doing it again. He really thinks that forty-seven percent of Americans do not pay taxes? Either he is delusional, or he simply lied to the crowd he addressed that day. Both possibilities are unfavorable qualities for a President. Are we really gonna have to omit mitt again? If Mitt Romney doesn't like half of America, he should aspire to be our president.

Governor Sam Brownback Needs A New Washing Machine

As you can see, Governor Sam Brownback did not wish to discuss some pertinent financial matters about which he was quizzed by a citizen. Such arrogance! He should have known what could potentially follow: now it's not a fellow citizen or a journalist asking him if he is finished with his laundry yet, it's a federal grand jury!

From the looks of things, Jeff Colyer, Brownback's lieutenant governor is not as savvy about matters financial and "money management" as he had previously thought!

Another Kansas Republican Racist

Yep, we have another Kansas Republican racist running for Congress, and this one is the pastor of a church. Reverend Cordell Fischer's wife posted a picture of Darth Vader on her husband's Facebook wall, and made a nasty comment to the effect that nonwhite fathers do not take care of their children, or some such nonsense. "First Black Guy To Admit He's The Father", is the exact quote. It seems that most white Kansas Christians are racist; that's no big surprise; however, Cordell Fischer appears to be a liar, as well. He took the post down when it came to his attention that there are people in Kansas who might not vote for him if they think he's an unintelligent racist, but blamed his wife for posting it! Yet the screen shot clearly states that he had insisted that she share it on his page. Also, Fischer apologized for "whatever it looks like to the public".

Fischer should be interested in knowing that "whatever it looks like to the public" is Kansas racism as usual. As for his church, which is a non-denominational congregation in Topeka, it appears that his racist spouse is something called a "children's pastor" within the hierarchy. Since there is no warning of bigotry and racism on the church's website, it seems that both of them simply take such attitudes for granted on the part of any potential parishioner. All the more reason to avoid christianity in Kansas.

Hopefully, the pastor's wife was able to find the fathers of her own progeny.

We Now Need Kobach's Permission To Drop Out Of An Election

Kris Kobach, a major co-author of the Arizona "papers please" laws, now not only wants sole power to tell us who can and cannot vote in our elections here in America.........one must obtain his approval in order to drop out of a race! That's right, Chad Taylor decided to end his run for a seat in the Kansas senate race, and now Kris Kobach has filed suit against him! At first glance, this appears insanely funny. We have a politician who thinks he is an emperor actually demanding legal action against someone who has changed his mind about running for political office and demanding that the former candidate run for office despite the change of heart, against his will! This is something your blogger would expect to find in a Monty Python skit, but no....she has found it in Kansas!

Aside from the ludicrous aspect of Kobach's demand, there are three very serious problems with
refusing to allow a candidate to drop out of a political race. First, the very notion that another elected official can control who runs, or does not run, in an election is completely undemocratic. If Kobach wants to go this route and take Taylor's choice away from him, he should at least appeal to the Kansas Democratic Party to take a vote on the matter and to nominate someone else. But even then, many candidates, especially at local levels, run unopposed. One person should not have the power to determine the choices of voters in an election. Second, if Kobach wins this nonsensical lawsuit and forces Taylor to run, Kansas will, in the event of Taylor's victory, have a senator whose desire was to do something other than represent Kansas in the Senate. Kobach has no right to impose such a paradigm. Third, an elected official can always resign. If Taylor were to win and resign, a lot of time and money would be wasted. Not to mention the money taxpayers will spend on the lawsuit and on Chad Taylor's defense.

It's bad enough that Kris Kobach wants to stop minorities from voting and marginalize any American who does not appear to descend from Anglo Saxon ancestry, but now he wants to tell us who can run, thereby controlling elections from both ends. Hopefully, Kansas will just dismiss this frivolous lawsuit.

Greg Orman, the Independent candidate who actually stands a chance of beating  Pat Roberts for Senate in Kansas.