Danny Bateman

Just posted elsewhere but it's too good not to post here. Texans way ahead of you.

I mean if you read the story it paints the picture perfectly. At the state level MAGAists have largely usurped power from the old school establishment GOP in a ton of places. Up here in Michigan some conspiracy nut whackjob in the leader of the state GOP (or was, I think the rest of them got so sick of her they ousted her - she said she wasn't stepping down now that party leaders just do that when they get voted out so not sure where that's at). The state GOP here has gotten a ton of pub for infighting (literally fistfighting at meetings - with injuries!) and is basically broke because they managed their finances like morons. So in a lot of states the radical fringer grassroots people are in the driver's seats. Meanwhile Joe effin' Biden is president and is pushing Dems to pass a bipartisan border deal. Dragging his party to the center to do things the old-school way through bipartisan compromise. You know, howe it was done when Congress actually worked well for decades, from FDR pretty much up until Newt Gingrich introduced reflexive obstruction and opposition which is now the norm. It's exceedingly clear when party is getting crazier and which isn't.

Meanwhile in Texas, the GOP education platform in action...

In other news, did you guys see the rapist (R) running for president is inciting further unrest on the southern border? Who doesn't respond to the multi-million dollar court judgment against them for raping a woman and then repeatedly attacking her as a liar out to damage HIM by stoking a little more national unrest? But I agree, we should totally be patting his cronies on the back for their very serious legislative bonafides.

“Here’s a s#!t sandwich. You can eat it or go hungry. If you put a little mustard and some mayo in there, it’ll taste better. I don’t understand why I haven’t gotten anybody who doesn’t love s#!t sandwiches to eat this thing!”

Not their concern. That bill was written by the immigration hawks specifically to limit immigration of all stripes. It is the brainchild of the anti-immgration folks over at the CIS. They don’t care about any secondary effects as long as they get their way.

The two had to be linked because the deeply unserious clown show of a party you still support can’t be trusted not to sell out our allies to thugs like Putin without being thrown a bone. Said bone is thrown and of course it’s ignored. Because they don’t want compromise to solve problems. They want everything on their wish list or nothing at all. Not exactly shocking if you fundamentally don’t want the government to work anyway. But that’s not how life works and it’s not how government works, either. But they’d rather hold the border hostage hoping it sweeps them into power so they can just pass their bad immigration bill and whatever other damaging pieces of policy they can actually manage to drag across the finish line on their own.

I always get a chuckle any time he mentions corruption. It takes an absolutely breathtaking brand of stupid to take him seriously. Why not let Bernie Madoff run the SEC or Bill Cosby head up a sexual abuse support network. Jared Fogle can be the new host of Dateline: To Catch a Predator. And heck, appoint this guy to run the DoJ. They’d all be similarly terrific!

You’re right. He’s just about the model example of a trash human being in every regard, but these rubes decided he’s their guy and they’re absolutely not unhitching the wagon now. I also think it says a bit about how useless approval/disapproval and right track/wrong track numbers are in modern society.

Hot takes on the matter: * Republicans aren’t serious about any policy whatsoever. They merely want power. * They’re also fine rolling over to dictators like Putin. Hell half of them probably admire him because their cult leader loves him. * Ukraine and the border getting boned by a guy who probably shouldn’t be in Congress at all, let alone guiding a whole party, sucks. Double sucks that he’s so to help a corrupt, fascist, blowhard traitor try to return to power. * The GOP immigration bill sucks. It’s just hardline immigration reduction across the board. It’s only good if your primary objective is to curtail all forms of immigration, not if you want to do it in any kind of intelligent, beneficial way. They don’t want compromise because, well, see the first point.

Congress has kicked the can on any meaningful immigration reform for decades. The recent focus on it is an electoral tactic. Looks like the Turtle has decided to keep it that way.

You’re gonna be napping for a while. Or course they’ll insinuate there’s proof, allude to it, etc. Everything but showing it to you. I’ll let you decide why. I’ll just say if this clown car of an “investigation” had actual damning evidence implicating a sitting president of the opposite party, they wouldn’t be hitting pause on their current work.

Her given name is Nimarata. She chooses to use her middle name Nikki for… reasons.

It’s really fascinating to watch from a “here’s how disordered brains work” perspective - it’s like a case study. Obviously the substance of what he’s saying is disgusting. But solely to examine how his brain works: 1. Pick a stance or make a statement 2. Refuse to ever disown it or reverse course even when it’s actively blowing up in your face 3. Double down on it when asked because you can never be wrong 4. Ad-lib your way into making it worse because you can’t shut your stupid mouth Just fascinating. Utterly pathological, but fascinating.

As a millennial at least Jeb gave us memes. Who can forget “please clap” or him trying to put on a hoodie. She contributes none of that. Best we’ve gotten is some crappy radio ads that sound like they were recorded thru a Wendy’s drive through speaker.

Screw that. Just admit it. They’re gullible rubes. It might offend their sensibilities to say it out loud, but it should not be taboo to admit these people are too impressionable and they’re not very intelligent. Systematically hatcheting critical thinking skills is a core piece of the Republican playbook.

A little late to the party but I feel like you’d have to have mashed potatoes where your brain should be to see this story and buy it.

incredible how honest Rs can suddenly be about how full of s#!t he is only AFTER they realize they can’t wrestle control of the party away from him.

DEMONRATS don’t want us real Americans ROLLING COAL!

The judge ruled he can’t speak because his lawyers blew off multiple deadlines (with multiple extensions the judge didn’t need to give) and did not assure the judge Trump would abide by specific conditions to speak (such as not attacking the judge or clerks, no campaign stump speech, etc). Everything is just another opportunity to whine to this guy. I’ll never understand why conservatives think he’s such a tough guy. He’s a petulant, whiny victim 1000% of the time.

Kent was a ton of fun. Pretty sure I heard him drop a holy s#!t after the court was stormed on broadcast. Maybe it was someone else. Long suffering Husker fan needed this one. Great job by the guys tonight. They played out of their minds and had to to pull this one off.

Twisting in a pretzel is right. i mean it’s one thing to suggest to the “Every POTUS is a war criminal, drone strikes are murdering civilians, etc.” that the president cannot be hauled into The Hague and tried on murder charges. I’m sympathetic to people who hold that view, but that’s a completely different issue in a completely different jurisdiction. His lawyers really stepped in a rake in cartoonish fashion by arguing POTUS can just call in hits on political rivals without consequence if Congress does not impeach and convict. That essentially means POTUS is untouchable if Congress continues being its dysfunctional hyperpartisan self. What’s a stop a president from just killing their political opponents and any Congress member who they felt would try to impeach them? Or what if, unlike Trump, they had the capacity for shame or belief consequences existed and they just resigned like Nixon before they could be removed? Are they just off scot free then? This is such a stupid, shortsighted, crazy argument they willingly made, I’d expect nothing less.

Trump team argues assassination of rivals is covered by presidential immunity Bad day for the “this guy ain’t actually a fascist” crowd.

I think she’s just angling to try to win South Carolina. Apparently unabashedly denouncing slavery is not an electoral winner there. She just might be the John Kasich of this election cycle. I’d actually have much preferred him to her. He didn’t try to kowtow to the Trumpists at all.