Voter Fraud? No. Updated.

President Donald Trump talks with reporters n the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

President Donald Trump talks with reporters n the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

There was no voter fraud. This is simply more smoke out of Donny’s arse, in an attempt to ameliorate his wounded ego over having lost the popular vote. This obsession is unfortunately not slowing down the ongoing shredding of the government, but Donny is prepared to waste a considerable amount of money nursing his fixation.

Two days after he told congressional leaders that he would have won the popular vote if it were not for three to five million illegal votes, President Trump announced on Wednesday morning that he’ll push for a “major investigation into VOTER FRAUD.” [Tweets at the link.]

Trump’s tweets conflate registration lists with fraud. There are innocuous reasons why a state’s voter rolls might be less than totally accurate. People move to another state without informing their former secretary of state’s office, and hence might be registered in more than one place. Others people die but don’t get removed from the rolls. Neither of those occurrences constitute fraud, however. Fraud is casting a ballot illegally either by voting more than once or impersonating another voter.

The notion that voter fraud exists on a significant scale is one of the Trump administration’s “alternative facts.” According to a Washington Post analysis, out of the more than 135 million voters cast in the 2016 presidential election, just four cases of voter fraud were found — and three of the culprits voted Republican.

Trump’s tweets conflate registration lists with fraud. There are innocuous reasons why a state’s voter rolls might be less than totally accurate. People move to another state without informing their former secretary of state’s office, and hence might be registered in more than one place. Others people die but don’t get removed from the rolls. Neither of those occurrences constitute fraud, however. Fraud is casting a ballot illegally either by voting more than once or impersonating another voter.

The notion that voter fraud exists on a significant scale is one of the Trump administration’s “alternative facts.” According to a Washington Post analysis, out of the more than 135 million voters cast in the 2016 presidential election, just four cases of voter fraud were found — and three of the culprits voted Republican.

[…]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said:

“I would urge the President to knock this off; this is the greatest democracy on Earth, we’re the leader of the free world, and people are going to start doubting you as a person if you keep making accusations against our electoral system without justification,” Graham said, according to CNN. “This is going to erode his ability to govern this country if he does not stop it.”

Erode his ability to govern? He doesn’t have any ability to govern in the first place. He has no knowledge, is not interested in acquiring any, no attention span, and is mostly concerned with watching television and twitter. His only concern has been, and remains his ego. At the very least, people should be concerned about the mass amounts of money this idiot is going to spend chasing phantoms so he can make himself feel better.

Full story at Think Progress.

In what can only be described as a Trumpian twist, Donny was angrily tweeting about the so-called voter fraud, in which, he specifically called out being registered in more than one location:

As it turns out, The Angry Tweeter’s chief nazi, Bannon, is registered to vote in two different places. I guess that will be declared okay now.

Oh Gods. More Assholes.

Credit: Youtube.

Credit: Youtube.

The Charlotte Observer reports that Sen. Dan Bishop, a Charlotte Republican, has proposed a new measure that would make it a crime to “threaten, intimidate, or retaliate against a present or former North Carolina official in the course of, or on account of, the performance of his or her duties.”

The measure came in response to a video in which several protesters followed Ex-Gov. McCrory down a street in Washington, D.C. while chanting things like “Shame!” and “Anti-gay bigot!”

“If Gov. McCrory were a former official of the District of Columbia, this incident might have been a crime punishable by five years in prison,” Bishop in an official statement. “So should it be in North Carolina. This is dangerous. Jim Hunt, Bev Purdue and other governors never faced riotous mobs in their post-service, private lives, without personal security.”

Chanting “Shame!” and “Anti-gay bigot” are not dangerous. They might be embarrassing, yes. And a shameful bigot like McCrory certainly would have his little ears burning, but it’s still not dangerous. Five years in prison? Unfuckingbelievable. Is there any redeeming feature to self righteous rethuglicans? Just one? Because I never see one. People are fighting for basic human rights and the rethug answer? Prison! If there are any repubs who think they are chock full of redeeming features, you’re staying awfully quiet.

At no point in the video did any protester physically touch McCrory or make any threat against the former governor.

And since issuing threats to public officials is already a crime, the scope of Bishop’s bill would likely depend on how it defines “harassment” and “retaliation” against current or former government officials.

And there’s the heart of it. In the new Fascist States of America, you should not have the right to criticise. So much for those vaunted frozen peaches.* Full story here. *Free Speech / Freeze Peach / Frozen Peaches.

And in Louisiana, all that matters are blue lives, the rest of us can just go to hell or prison, whichever comes first:

Following suit with the Trump administration’s law enforcement platform, police in Acadiana, Louisiana have used the state’s new “Blue Lives Matter” law. Louisiana is the first state to enact such a law, which aims to protect the conduct of police officers by slamming people who resist arrest with hate crime charges.

“We don’t need the general public being murdered for no reason and we don’t need officers being murdered for no reason. We all need to just work together,” said the St. Martinville Police Chief, Calder Hebert in defense of the new law. “Resisting an officer or battery of a police officer was just that charge, simply. But now, Governor Edwards, in the legislation, made it a hate crime now.”

CBS News correspondent David Begnaud clarified on Twitter that the police chief’s language was inaccurate, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ communications director. However, the Blue Lives Matter provision has already been used to charge someone with a hate crime.

If the response to protesters at Donald Trump’s inauguration is any indication of what’s to come from police, any Blue Lives Matter law that seeks to slap felony hate crime charges on people for resisting arrest is just another component of a serious crackdown on dissent.

Based on Louisiana’s Blue Lives Matter law, anyone who resists arrest or uses physical force against an officer can now be charged with a felony hate crime, a serious offense that will only further criminalize those most affected by abusive policing. Hate crimes are punishable by ten years to life in prison.

Again, the only answer: prison. And that’s for lawful dissent. Dark days. Full story here.

The Power to Nullify.

Reps. Julio Gonzalez and John Koster.

Reps. Julio Gonzalez and John Koster.

Two state legislatures are considering measures that would allow lawmakers to overrule decisions by Supreme Court majorities — and one Florida Republican wants to change the U.S. Constitution to allow Congress to do the same.

In Florida, state Rep. Julio Gonzalez (R-Venice) has filed two bills that would allow the state legislature or the U.S. Congress “to override or nullify court decisions.”

House Joint Resolution 121 would allow lawmakers to undo any state court decision by a two-thirds vote for up to five years, and House Memorial 125 would permit Congress to propose a similar constitutional amendment to give themselves the power to nullify federal court decisions.

Gonzalez, an orthopedic surgeon, said the bills are necessary because judges are often unaccountable to voters and unable to decide cases without considering their practical or political impact.

“(The legislation) would curtail the tendency of activist judges to manipulate the law to suit their political views and agendas,” Gonzalez said. “Equally as important, this would force the people to engage the Legislature in enacting rectifications to current laws that they see as objectionable or flawed, restoring the natural relationship between the people and their legislative bodies. This would also force the electorate to more carefully look at their candidates and their actions during times of re-election.”

There’s that dog whistle, “activist judges”. Yes, we only want judges who will do what we want, fuck the law!

[…]

Washington is considering a similar measure that would allow lawmakers to “reject the determination of the court” by a simple majority on cases where the state’s Supreme Court rules an act unconstitutional.

State Rep. John Koster (R-Arlington Heights), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said he supports the measure because he believes the court overstepped its authority in deciding a lawsuit on education funding.

“It’s a worthy effort to tap (judges) on the shoulder and remind them of separation of powers,” said Koster, who admits the bill might not pass.

Gonzalez identified rulings on public displays of religion — including holiday celebrations and school prayer — and laws against flag-burning as his justification for the bills.

Emphasis mine. Well, that didn’t take long, did it? There isn’t even the slightest effort to wrap this in flowery language. I wonder how long it will be before bibles and public prayer are foisted on what’s left of schools.

Via Raw Story.

Budget Slasher Horror.

Pennywise

© Jorgel007, via http://welcome2creepshow.tumblr.com/

Trump is preparing his own slasher flick, featuring The Budget. Most Trumpoids won’t care, they will most likely cheer this massacre on, but those of us who cherish things like art, social justice, education, the environment, because our earth sustains us, and other commie hippie stuff are in for a very bad ride. As per usual in the rethug agenda, anyone who isn’t rich is gonna get screwed.

Incoming President Donald Trump’s administration is already working on preparing his budget. And it looks like it will be far more extreme than anything the Republican Party has proposed so far.

The blueprint Trump’s team is working with as it crafts the plan would cut federal government spending by $10.5 trillion over a decade, according to The Hill’s sources.

[…]

To get such deep cuts, the Trump budget contemplates completely eliminating a number of programs, particularly at the Departments of Energy, Justice, State, Commerce, and Transportation.

On the chopping block, according to The Hill, would be the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the Department of Justice’s Legal Services Corporation and Violence Against Women Grants; funding for the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Electricity, and Office of Fossil Energy, among others.

It’s likely many other programs will be cut as well, even if they aren’t eliminated entirely. […] But if the House Republican budget is any guide, programs that serve the most needy are likely to be in danger. That proposal derived 62 percent of its cuts from low-income programs, such as food stamps and Pell grants, even though those programs account for just 28 percent of non-defense spending.

Think Progress has the full story.

A Shameful Justice System.

Pearl Pearson Jr., a deaf man who was charged with resisting arrest after not listening to officers' instructions.

Pearl Pearson Jr., a deaf man who was charged with resisting arrest after not listening to officers’ instructions.

A deaf man from Oklahoma has been cleared of charges that he resisted arrest because he allegedly failed to hear police officers’ orders.

Pearson was originally pulled over by troopers in February of 2014, and was slapped with a misdemeanor charge for resisting arrest after not obeying officers’ instructions.

[…]

Pearson claims that he tried to inform the troopers who pulled him over that he was deaf, and he says that they proceeded to beat him after pulling him from his vehicle. His 2014 mug shot clearly shows a swollen eye and other injuries that he alleges came from his encounter with police.

[…]

The district attorney cleared the troopers of any criminal wrongdoing in the case, but charged Pearson with a misdemeanor of resisting arrest.

Yes, of course you did, after all, beating the shit out of people is just another day at work, right? Perfectly okay that, and to insist on preferring charges against a deaf person. Makes perfect sense if you’re a regressive, backwards asshole.

Attorneys for Pearson had successfully argued Pearson needed special interpreters for his trial. Pearson learned sign language during segregation, which means his way of communicating differs from traditional American Sign Language, or ASL. District Attorney David Prater, who appeared for the state in person at the hearing requesting interpreters, did not object to the request.

Pearson’s attorney, Scott Adams, says prosecutors told him they were dismissing the case due to the costs associated with the special interpreters for court. The case was scheduled to go to trial next week.

Online court records indicate the case was dismissed without cost to Pearson, though he has had to pay for his own defense attorneys.

Court documents filed by prosecutors say the cost of Pearson’s misdemeanor trial could meet or exceed $40,000.

“It is the District Attorney’s responsibility to be a good steward of the taxpayer’s money,” Prater wrote.

Oh, right. So that’s what it is, deciding on what to do with taxpayer money, sort of an accounting thing, not a justice thing. Mr. Pearson won’t see any justice for being beaten by cops; he’ll still have to pay his lawyers, and if it weren’t for the need to pay special interpreters, you would have gladly wasted a lot of money persecuting him for no good reason. Perhaps with some of that 40k you saved, you should put out some public service announcements: Danger! Don’t Be Deaf Around Cops! Danger! Especially Don’t Be Black and Deaf, No!

Via Raw Story and KOKH.

Some People and Their Kids…

Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, left, his son Michael G. Flynn, second from left, and Boris Epshteyn, a spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump, third from left, board an elevator at Trump Tower in New York on November 17, 2016. CREDIT: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File.

Retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, left, his son Michael G. Flynn, second from left, and Boris Epshteyn, a spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump, third from left, board an elevator at Trump Tower in New York on November 17, 2016. CREDIT: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File.

On Monday night, Michael Flynn Jr. — son of and former chief of staff for President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn — tweeted out a story published on Voltaire Network entitled, “General Flynn’s Proposals to Reform Intelligence.”

The story, published last month with a Damascus dateline and authored by Thierry Meyssan — a 9/11 truther who published a book in 2002 entitled, “The Big Lie” — previews how Flynn plans to rollback “the big reforms that took place during the Bush and Obama years.”

Perhaps most significantly, the story says the “radical overhaul” Flynn is planning involves the elimination of the office of the Director of National Intelligence, an office created by President Bush in 2004, with power centralized under Flynn instead.

“The 16 agencies should no longer be accountable to the National Intelligence Director but only to the National Security Adviser,” Meyssan writes. “In other words, they will be accountable to General Flynn personally.”

The story cites anonymous sources, which some informed observers believe include Flynn Jr. himself.

[…]

In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly bashed reputable outlets like CNN as “FAKE NEWS” while linking to content from staunchly pro-Trump sites like One America News and LifeZette. In his most recent post on Gab, a social media platform that caters to white nationalists, Flynn Jr. struck a similarly anti-mainstream media tone, writing, “Im sick of these fake news media a$$holes pulling at strings, trying to pit Trumps cabinet against each other. Piece of advice, good number of his cabinet sat across from (in @GenFlynn case interrogated) members of Al Qaeda so nothing LSM can OR WILL EVER do to shake these TRUE PATRIOTS!!”

The full, depressing story is at Think Progress. We are in so much trouble.

A Playful Gesture.

Chris von Keyserling. Photo: / Helen Neafsey.

Chris von Keyserling. Photo: / Helen Neafsey.

Christopher von Keyserling, 71, was arrested in Greenwich Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon and charged with fourth-degree sexual assault, police said. He posted $2,500 bond and was released to appear in court on Jan. 25.

The incident began at about noon Dec. 8 when the 57-year-old woman encountered von Keyserling in the hallway of an unnamed town facility, the warrant said.

The two briefly spoke about politics and the woman told him that “it was a new world politically” and he had to educate his fellow politicians, the warrant said. Von Keyserling is a member of Greenwich’s Representative Town Meeting.

He allegedly replied: “I love this new world, I no longer have to be politically correct,” according to the warrant.

She told him that if he was “proud of that I can’t help you,” after which he called her a lazy, bloodsucking union employee, the warrant said.

[…]
As she walked by, he allegedly pinched her in the groin area, according to the warrant. She threatened to punch him if he ever did that again, the warrant said.

She said he “looked back with a really evil look in his eyes and said, ‘it would be your word against mine and nobody will believe you,'” according to the warrant.

[…]

Reached by phone, von Keyserling deferred comment to his attorney, Phil Russell. “It’s a sad situation,” von Keyserling said.

Russell said the incident in question, at the Nathaniel Witherell Home, could not be described as sexual or aggressive in nature. He said the charge stemmed from a “jocular” moment with a woman at a gathering at the town-owned senior facility.

“In almost 30 years of practicing law in this town, I would say Mr. von Keyserling is the one person I would never suspect of having any inappropriate sexual predilections,” Russell said, noting his client is in his 70s.

“There was a playful gesture, in front of witnesses. It was too trivial to be considered anything of significance. To call it a sexual assault is not based in reality,” the lawyer said.

And there we are, in a reality where open sexual assault is no more than a “playful gesture”. I have an idea that Mr. von Keyserling might not find people deciding to pinch his penis as jocular play. Since the election of Pussy Grabber-elect, we will no doubt be seeing much more of this; assholes all over using the excuse of “hey I don’t need to be politically correct anymore!” as the rallying cry for indecent behaviour.

Via Daily Voice and Greenwich Time.

Sunday Facepalm.

facepalm_estatua

In the really bad news department, evangelicals have found themselves in government heaven. Last month, Right Wing Watch reported on the Pendejo-elect’s transition team giving religious right activists, specifically, the members of his evangelical advisory board unprecedented (sb. unpresidented?) input in shaping the new administration. A member of that board, Richard Land, was busy boasting in gleeful surprise about this recently.

Earlier this week, one of the members of that board, Richard Land of the Southern Evangelical Seminary, appeared on the “Point of View” radio program, where he told host Kerby Anderson that he has been shocked by how much influence he and other Religious Right activists have had over the make-up of Trump’s administration.

“Some of my conservative friends and I, we have been pinching ourselves, are we hallucinating or is this actually happening?” Land said. “I know a good number of people on the transition team and I can tell you right now, about half of them, Kerby, think I’m liberal. I mean, these are very conservative people.”

Indeed. Nazis and fascists in general are “ultra-conservative” by typical standards. One could phrase it more precisely as rigidly evil.

Land, a longtime activist and former Southern Baptist Convention official, said that he has “been solicited five times for personnel recommendations” by the Trump administration, which is something that never happened under any previous Republican president. As such, Land said, “this administration is going to have more conservative Christians, Catholic and evangelical, in it than any administration that I’ve been associated with or had contact with, and I’ve been doing this since Reagan.”

For those of us who eschew willful delusions, this is very bad news indeed. “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” I would say they would soon be eyeing suitable candidates for kindling, to set that cross ablaze, but there’s no soon about it. Already happening.

Via Right Wing Watch.

The Federal Heartbeat.

CREDIT: sebk/iStock.

CREDIT: sebk/iStock.

There’s an interesting article at Think Progress, demonstrating that the majority of Americans favour pro-choice.

Recent research from the Pew Research Center indicates that 69 percent of Americans — or 7 in 10 — say Roe v. Wade should not be completely overturned. This represents a 6-point increase in the number of individuals who expressed this sentiment just a few years ago.

It’s unfortunate, to say the least, that coinciding with this change is the illegal election which has placed every manner of fanatic into high office.

During the campaign, Trump promised to ban abortion, punish women who got abortions and doctors who perform them, and appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. What’s more, his cabinet picks read like the Who’s Who of anti-abortion zealots.

Our elected officials are now at complete odds with what the American public wants when it comes to abortion.

It’s fairly clear that what the majority of Americans want is not of import; it’s what the minority want which will rule the day. The attempt to de-fund Planned Parenthood is still on, and one of the very first things gutted from ACA was contraceptive coverage, because of course if you want to lessen the amount of terminations, eliminating access to contraception is the way to go. Fucking idiots.

Continuing in this vein, for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reading about an attempt to pass a federal heartbeat bill. Mostly, this story has been covered by Right Wing Watch. Not anymore! The lunatics are running the asylum, and the federal heartbeat bill is a reality. A vicious one.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) Thursday introduced a bill that would implement a nationwide abortion ban, modeling it after the “heartbeat bills” already found unconstitutional in federal court.

Under HR 490, an abortion provider who performs an abortion without “determining … whether the fetus has a detectable heartbeat,” “informing the mother of the results of that determination,: or “after determining … that the fetus has a detectable heartbeat,” will face fines and up to five years in federal prison.

In a press release, King called Roe v. Wade “unconstitutional,” arguing, “lives have been ended by the abortion industry, all with a rubber stamp by the federal government.”

“Human life, beginning at the moment of conception, is sacred in all of its forms and today, I introduced a bill that will protect the lives of voiceless innocents,” he said.

“America was founded on the concept that our rights come from God…” the press release continues. “I believe our most important responsibility that God has bestowed upon us is to protect innocent human life, and I will continue to dedicate my life to that responsibility.”

King worked with anti-choice activist Janet Porter on the bill.

This isn’t a war on women. It’s an obliteration. It’s a refusal to accept women as full human beings, who are capable of making their own decisions. Sort of an alternate version of The Handmaid’s Tale. This will, of course, impact just as hard on some transgender men. This is also an insistence on forcing a specific religious belief, which is against the constitution, but these so-called lovers of the constitution don’t give a flying fuck about that, oh no. They are finally in a position to drop the bomb of misogynistic control on our heads, and they can’t wait to do it. Who cares if women end up dead? Small price to pay as far as they are concerned.

“I gave him a packet and he has agreed to introduce a federal Heartbeat Bill, which would protect every baby whose heartbeat can be detected,” Porter told Rewire in an interview. “That will actually end abortion in nearly every case. Ninety to 95 percent of the abortions will be ended with that bill.”

And you don’t give one little shit about all the lives which would be negatively impacted, either. As long as you get to be smug about stomping all over other women.

Via Raw Story.

Healthcare Specifics.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, flanked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. John Barrasso CREDIT: AP Photo/Cliff Owen.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, flanked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. John Barrasso CREDIT: AP Photo/Cliff Owen.

Or, rightly said, lack of healthcare specifics. The dirty work done in the small hours specifically gutted these features of ACA:

1. Protect people with pre-existing conditions.

2. Let young adults stay on their parents’ plan.

3. Maintain access to contraceptive coverage.

4. Ensure Medicaid expansion stays in place.

5. Protect children on Medicaid or CHIP.

6. Protect veterans’ health care.

Think Progress has all the details on each one of these, and how the rethuglicans just yanked the rug out from under everyone.

“Clovergender”

CG

While I’ve been dozing under my rock, yet another type of insidious bigotry is drenching the ‘net, based on the time immemorial pastime of linking LGBT peoples with pedophilia.

Martin Shkreli has given the LGBT community another reason to despise him.

The pharmaceutical executive, who rose to infamy by hiking the price of a drug used for an AIDS-related condition by more than 5,000 percent, is now promoting “clovergender,” an identity concocted by trolls to mock LGBT people.

Before his Twitter account was suspended for harassing a Teen Vogue writer, Shkreli urged his followers January 4 to “please spread clovergender awareness.” The term, which has sprung up on several social media accounts early this year, appeared to be used by adult individuals claiming to be “a child trapped in a man’s body who is attracted to other children.”

However, “clovergender” is a hoax. Snopes debunked it, tracing the birth of “clovergender” and this definition, which ridicules the identity of transgender and gender-nonbinary people, to a 4chan thread from December 31.

“We’re creating a new gender to trolls SJWs with,” posted an anonymous user, in a reference to “social justice warriors.” They then coined “clovergender” and ascribed fake preferred pronouns like “cl / clir /climself.”

“We will be trolling on Tumblr and Facebook,” the user stated. Another replied, “I see potential in this.”

Just what this sociopathic asshole has to gain from this, I don’t know, and it really doesn’t matter. I guess it’s just his way of getting his kicks. The potential for damage is overwhelming though, and it’s not like people in general don’t already have a whole lot of hatred for LGBT peoples anyway. They do, and those who are always looking for any reason to fire up that hate will grab this garbage and run with it. We have one state after another attempting to legislate bigotry and hate, and I imagine there will legislators who will seize on this as well, in order to shore up their always faulty reasoning.

After gaining momentum on the message boards of 4chan and Reddit, the term did indeed find its way to broader social media. A new Facebook page claimed to be created in response to “the horrible pain and backlash somee [sic] Clovergender people receive. We are against that. We think a kid should do what he wants.”

[…]

Several Twitter accounts, which follow and retweet LGBT outlets and influencers, are also attempting to intertwine the fake cause with the real-life movement. At least one has attributed Shkreli’s Twitter ban to clovergender discrimination.

The ruse duped some folks on social media, who reacted with disgust to the “clovergender” community.

The myth of the sexual predator has dogged the LGBT community since time immemorial. The call for “bathroom bills,” which prohibit transgender people from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identity, is the most recent example of how conservatives are painting queer people as perverts. “Clovergender,” if it perpetuates, will only continue to stoke these mistruths and biases.

So. We find ourselves back at the beginning again, folks, having to fight this blatant lie again, over and over. Be aware of this, spread the word, get the truth out there, we all know the drill.

Full story at The Advocate.

On This Day…

Now-Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX), during his 2012 campaign CREDIT: AP Photo/Pat Sullivan.

Now-Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX), during his 2012 campaign CREDIT: AP Photo/Pat Sullivan.

A day after Donald Trump shouted down CNN reporter Jim Acosta at his first “press conference” since July and accused his network of providing “fake news,” a Republican Congressman is demanding that Acosta be fired.

Two years ago to the day, Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) made national news for a tweet comparing the president of the United States — unfavorably — to Hitler. He laterapologized for his observation that “Even Adolph [sic] Hitler thought it more important than Obama to get to Paris. (For all the wrong reasons.) Obama couldn’t do it for right reasons,” and deleted the tweet.

He never removed a January 2014 tweet in which he called Obama “Kommandant-In-Chef”… the Socialistic dictator,” nor others suggesting POTUS stood for “Poor Obama Trashed U.S.”

But now, apparently, Weber has decided that being rude to the president is an offense worthy of firing.

On Thursday morning, he tweeted:

The CNN reporter who was disruptive to the press briefing, & disrespectful to Trump-should be fired & prohibited from any press briefings.

Ah, where’s that ferocious con love for free speech? As always, it’s the first casualty whenever there’s criticism or hard questions.

Via Think Progress.

Back to What Healthcare?

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a health care news conference to oppose Republicans’ effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a health care news conference to oppose Republicans’ effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

In a classical villain move, the rethugs met in the middle of the night to kill off healthcare. PZ has posted about this, and Think Progress has a comprehensive look at what went down.

I’m just going to focus on the fear, the terror, the despair. Every single fucking person who voted for that sick fucker Trump, every single fucking person who didn’t bother to strike a valid vote against him, ever single fucking person who bleats about voting republican because, there simply are not enough deeply nasty words for you. There isn’t anything out there compared to the bone deep ugly inside of yourselves. Rotten to the godsdamn core, all of you who brought this about. :spits:

And one more fucking time: The Affordable Care Act, which has now been gutted out of fucking spite, is the same thing as Obamacare.

Amelia

@keithellison As a breast cancer survivor, this is a death sentence for me.

***

Ron Krasnow

As a Stage 3 cancer survivor I’m ineligible for life insurance and soon won’t be able to afford health insurance. Is this how “great” feels?

***

Mike T

I have cystic fibrosis. If the ACA is repealed people like me will lose coverage. People like me will die.

***

Regular Sized Renee

As a veteran my health insurance is covered under the ACA.

***

Jen ish

I have a chronic disease. means I can be self-employed with coverage and schedule work around my illness. Without it? Who knows.

***

Cindy Baldwin

2. Without the protections in the ACA, I will run out of health insurance in 1-2 years thanks to the reinstatement of lifetime limits.

***

Ange

@SenSchumer so my pre-x condition of cancer will screw me and a recurrence will kill me…

***

Just the tiniest sample of those millions of people who will now find themselves in untenable and intolerable situations, thanks to all those who voted in mega-assholes who think running on spite and hate is a fine fucking thing.

Via Raw Story.