Everything Trump Touches Dies, Part Infinity:
An Atlanta-area special grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia has subpoenaed a handful of key Trump allies, including his former attorney Rudy Giuliani and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, according to court filings.
The subpoenas also cover a handful of the Trump campaign’s other former legal advisers, including John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Cleta Mitchell and Kenneth Chesebro.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been leading the investigation digging into Trump’s actions in Georgia. Several state officials have already been subpoenaed and have appeared before the special grand jury.
Well Lindsey, they have audio of you asking for a little voter fraud between friends.
Among the incidents Willis has said she’s investigating is a November 2020 phone call Graham made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Raffensperger has said Graham pressed him on whether he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, a question Raffensperger interpreted as a suggestion to toss out legally cast votes.
Graham denied that’s what he was trying to do at the time, calling the allegation “ridiculous.” He told reporters that he’d reached out to Raffensperger because he was “trying to find out how the signature stuff worked,” and that Raffensperger “did a good job of explaining to me how they verify signatures.”
The subpoena said Graham “made at least two telephone calls” to Raffensperger and his staff. “During the telephone calls, [Graham] questioned Secretary Raffensperger and his staff about reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump. [Graham] also made reference to allegations of widespread voter fraud in the November 2020 election in Georgia, consistent with public statements made by known affiliates of the Trump Campaign,” the subpoena said.
Graham did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
I bet Sugarlips didn’t comment. Lindsey Graham might be a talented Remora, and a untalented gangster, but he’s enough of a lawyer to know to not comment.
Lawyer up, Senatorette, a Remora like you could be very popular in Club Fed.
I hope the Seahawks are watching. Thumper has talent.
(Hat tip: Scissorhead Purplehead)
They are a very funny people.
H/T Scissorhead Fran
I shouldn’t be shocked by this, but…
Republican states are trying to use federal covid aid to cut taxes
…More than a year after Congress approved a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Republicans in nearly two dozen states have ratcheted up efforts to tap some of those funds for an unrelated purpose: paying for tax cuts. The moves have threatened to siphon off aid that might otherwise help states fight the pandemic, shore up their local economies or prepare for a potential recession.
The intensifying Republican campaign targets one of the signature programs Democrats approved as part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan last year. At the urging of the nation’s mayors and governors, Congress delivered what largely amounted to a blank check for every city and state to bolster their budgets.
Congress ultimately laid down few conditions for how local leaders could use the pot of money, which totaled $350 billion nationally. But they were clear about one thing: The federal government would not subsidize state tax cuts. Lawmakers led by Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) said at the time that Washington should not be on the hook to pay for reductions in state tax revenues, since that could leave major budget holes once federal aid ran dry.
People are losing their homes to rent gouging, kids and seniors are going hungry, and services everywhere are underfunded. There’s so many ways that money could/should be used, but the moment a Republican sees an Amero on the sidewalk, they want to give to Billionaires as a tax break.
The Gallup Organization has bad news and really bad news for us: faith in US institutions is crumbling:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans are less confident in major U.S. institutions than they were a year ago, with significant declines for 11 of the 16 institutions tested and no improvements for any. The largest declines in confidence are 11 percentage points for the Supreme Court — as reported in late June before the court issued controversial rulings on gun laws and abortion — and 15 points for the presidency, matching the 15-point drop in President Joe Biden’s job approval rating since the last confidence survey in June 2021.
While the percentage drop is significant (no d’uh!), look at the final numbers.
To me it’s more stark that Congress’ 5pt drop leaves them in single-digit territory (and peoples’ faith in Congress really dropped by nearly 50%, when you think about it), than President Handsome Joe Biden had a 15pt drop that leaving him in the 25% range.
To the degree that Democrats control the trifecta, this is good news for amply be-chinned Mitch McConnell who will no doubt exploit that.
Therefore our mission is making sure our friends and neighbors realize that the Senate is the part of Congress that has stopped all progress. It’s not making excuses, it’s stating the obvious fact that we need more Democrats in the Senate (and lessen the Manchinema obstruction). IF we can get 52+ Democratic Senators, we can fix a lot of our broken country. And IF we can keep the House.
That’s a big IF and all of this is an uphill climb. Quit your whining, ya mugs, and get to work!
Governor Jay Inslee (WA) notes that all is NOT lost:
“I can tell you that on the street, what you hear is a bubbling, seething cauldron of anger at the Republican Party for putting in these antediluvian judges who think they can take us back to the 18th century. My spidey sense and the polling indicate it’s going to help people decide not to vote for the red team.”
“From the suburbs of Philadelphia and Grand Rapids to more conservative territory in Nebraska, there are early signs that some voters who disapprove of Mr. Biden also increasingly believe that Republicans have gone too far to the right on a range of issues, particularly abortion…”
As Bill Nye said at the Aspen Ideas Festival about climate change:
“To be sure, recycling the bottles, don’t throw the plastic away [and] compost your compostable things … Start there. But if you want to do one thing about climate change: Vote.”
He’s absolutely right. If you think voting doesn’t work wait’ll you find out how effective not voting is!
(Stolen from Scissorhead @Glitterbug on the electic tweeter)
Guys, remember during the primary that Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker rat-eff’ed the GOP primary by putting in a lot of money to support the weakest Republican Candidate?
Heh.
GOP Illinois governor hopeful apologizes after calling for people to ‘move on’ after shooting
Darren Bailey, an Illinois state senator and the Republican nominee for governor, apologized Monday after saying that people should “move on” from the deadly Highland Park shooting earlier in the day…
“Let’s pray for justice to prevail, and then let’s move on and let’s celebrate the independence of this nation,” he said.
This Bailey was in nearby Skokie when he said this, probably less than 20 miles away, and the bodies were still in the street in Highland Park.
H/T @NamelessCynic
I’m guessing sunscreen accessories is, uh, Aloe Vera?
Some details from the WaPo:
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — At least six people were dead, more than 40 people were hospitalized and a gunman was at large Monday afternoon after shooting Fourth of July paradegoers from a roof in this Chicago suburb, authorities said.
A sniper, you say?
Also, wealthy, largely Jewish Highland Park is north of Evanston and I’m pretty sure not serviced by the CTA, so it would be a suburb of Chicago the same way that San Jose is a suburb of Oakland (or vice-versa). They just gotta get the hate-Chicago, hell-hole vibe on.
but I digest, do continue.
Shortly after 10 a.m., as the parade in downtown Highland Park was three-quarters of the way done, the shooter atop a building began firing into the crowd, seeming to target observers, until police approached, authorities say. The gunman then escaped, leading law enforcement on a manhunt. A high-powered rifle was recovered by police. As of the afternoon, law enforcement was unsure whether the shooter remained in the city.
Five people died at the scene, and dozens of others were taken to hospitals, an unknown number of them in serious or critical condition. One person died at a hospital.
These domestic terrorism events are brought to us by the Republican Party and our #IllegitimateSCOTUS. And while I can scream to deaf heaven with my bootless cries, the GOPers are undoubtedly going to say that there needs to be more parade safety (how does one get a single door to a parade, I wonder).
I’m waiting for them to deflect blame to video games and rap music, too.
Meanwhile, the NRA is as usual in bad taste:
Because it’s never the guns. It’s always the guns.
So… how much is that doggo in the window?
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Mock Paper Scissors 