Month: February 2019

 
From Tommy Christopher:

Mark Meadows Furiously Accused Michael Cohen of Criminal Lying at Hearing. Meadows Was Lying.

In an uncomfortable plot twist, GOP Congressman Mark Meadows tried to accuse former Trump fixer Michael Cohen of lying on a disclosure form, but turned out to be lying himself.

During Wednesday morning’s House Oversight Committee hearing at which Cohen was testifying, the North Carolina Republican went into high dudgeon over Cohen’s failure to list certain contracts on a truth in testimony disclosure form.

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From Frances Langum:

Reimbursement for the Stormy Daniels hush money payment was signed by PRESIDENT Trump in 2017. BOOM.

Around here, we call him the “so-called president.” But it turns out Donald Trump, who claims he is “not involved” with his businesses now that he’s “president,” signed a check reimbursing Michael Cohen for hush money payments to the porn star he had sex with while his wife was recovering from childbirth.

I want to make sure all of those words are noted, carefully.

sex
porn star
hush money
wife
childbirth
signed
check
president.

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I recognize that some of you may doubt and attack me on my credibility. It is for this reason that I have incorporated into this opening statement documents that are irrefutable, and demonstrate that the information you will hear is accurate and truthful.

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Continue reading “Michael Cohen’s Opening Statement to Congress”

 
From Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson:

Stroebel does criticize the organization for hostility towards Hagedorn’s faith. And he has a point. For while Jordahl and Johnson claim the Realtors are not hostile to Hagedorn’s personal beliefs, consider that the criticisms directed at Hagedorn include no instance of allowing his faith to color his legal opinions as an Appeals Court Judge.

Instead, the criticisms of Hagedorn are strictly on two points: 1) Hagedorn stating on his blog before he became a judge that legalizing sodomy could lead to legalizing bestiality and incest, and 2) Hagedorn serving on the board of a Christian school that has standards of conduct that do not allow homosexual behavior by the staff.

In the case of the former, what may have been hyperbole may still bear out. What was once taboo is gaining more public acceptance including plural marriage, incest, and bestiality. Not that long ago, it was unthinkable that the courts would overrule state laws prohibiting gay marriage. Governor Jim Doyle even publicly criticized attempts to define marriage in the state constitution because he said the law would never be interpreted to allow same-sex marriages. Can we honestly say that courts, unmoored from its prior limits, will not someday overturn laws prohibiting the behaviors Hagedorn listed?

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From tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors:

Now, the world has changed since 2017, and perhaps the Dims might find some of their vestigial spines and actually go on record with something like being opposed to climate change or being in favor of not killing their constituents via lack of healthcare. And of course, there are Dims like Manchin who are from so-called Energy States and representing their actual constituents means voting against the Green New Deal. I think it’s stupid, but it is true.

And of course there are some Senators deeply beholden to corporate interests, and some of ’em are running (and you know who I mean). Voting present gives them a way out.

Others are bolder:

“Other Democrats said they were eager to show their support for an idea that could differentiate the increasingly crowded Democratic primary field.
“I don’t know what [McConnell’s] intentions are exactly,” said Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). “But I’m in favor of it,” she said of the Green New Deal.”

This is a sword that can cut both ways, though.

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From Iron Knee at Political Irony:

Ok, I admit it. Republicans have been warning us that massive election fraud is real for years. In last year’s Florida election, Donald Trump warned us that the vote count was “massively infected” with “large numbers of new ballots” showing up “out of nowhere” while other ballots were “missing or forged.” And he claimed election officials were suspiciously “finding votes in Florida and Georgia” after the election. Trump also insisted “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

And the Republicans even put their money where the president’s mouth is. They diligently combed through voter rolls, removing anyone who was the least bit suspicious. They passed laws requiring voters to show ID in order to vote. They insisted on allocating billions of dollars to build a wall to keep illegal aliens from flooding into the US in order to vote. But we didn’t believe.

Now, we have an actual case of election fraud. A well documented case that by all appearances changed the result in a federal election.

That’s horrible! Why didn’t we listen?

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From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:

It’s beyond debate that our current health care system is broken. At least a tenth of our population has no health insurance, and that’s is not expected to get better under current law. In fact, it is gradually getting worse, thanks to recent changes to the law by Republicans. The cost of insurance and medical expenses are both rising faster than the rate of inflation, and the U.S. spends twice as much on medical care per capita than most other developed nations (who cover all their citizens).

The Republicans have no plan to fix our broken system. Even after complaining for years that Obamacare was not the answer, they have been unable to come up with their own answer. Some Democrats have called for a single-payer system, something like Medicare that would cover all U.S. citizens. It’s an idea that deserves to be debated.

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From Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara:

When people claim health care is a “right,” they usually mean a “right” to health care whether you can pay for it or not, in which case others must be forced to provide it. You obviously have a right to health care that you buy from willing providers, or access in other ways based on voluntary consent, such as voluntary charity. It is in this second sense that the Sixth Amendment recognizes the accused’s’ right to be represented by counsel. It clearly does not recognize any right to compel others to provide that counsel.

It’s true that today taxpayers and/or lawyers are forced to provide counsel to people who cannot afford it. It’s arguable whether this should be so. But providing counsel to an accused is not analogous to providing goods or services like health care at others’ expense. Given that criminal prosecution is a legitimate governmental function that proceeds from the proper purpose of government, which is to secure the inalienable individual rights of its citizens, it’s hard to see how the government can fulfill its obligation to provide a fair trial to a defendant who is not represented by counsel.

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From YouTube’s rachelle9876

Song: “Dancin’ The Boogie”
composed and performed by Swiss pianist Silvan Zingg.

Dancing: French couple William Mauvais and Maéva Truntzer.

Bass: Nuno Alexandre from Portugal.

Drums: Simon Boyer from France