Category: MAGA / Republican

Some People Here Game,

and maybe you’ll get a good laugh out of this news I read on Showercap’s blog. Apparently Musk cheats and isn’t really a very good player. Earlier Sat. evening, I saw Musk on an old Big Bang Theory, acting at working in a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving. This was fun news to read after seeing that!

Now I’m not at all a gamer, though once upon a time I did all right at PacMan & Asteroids. I couldn’t care less about this sort of thing, but I find it funny to learn it about Musk. Two story snippets below:

Elon Musk Vs. Asmongold—The Gaming Feud, Explained

Elon Musk is currently in the midst of a feud with Twitch streamer Asmongold, after he was accused of boosting his ‘Path of Exile 2’ account, leading to Musk leaking Asmon’s private DMs.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is in the midst of a heated feud with gaming streamer Zack Hoyt, better known as “Asmongold,” who is accusing Musk of cheating at Path of Exile 2.

Asmongold is not the only gamer accusing Musk of cheating, as the larger gaming community, particularly Path of Exile players, believe that Musk is paying people to play games for him, leveling up his characters and arming them with powerful equipment—a practice known as “boosting.”

After Musk played Path of Exile 2 on a livestream, gamers quickly noticed that his actions did not match that of a proficient player, and compiled a list of evidence on Reddit that strongly implies that Musk is boosting his characters.

Commentators responded in bemused disbelief—one wrote that Musk “doesn’t seem to understand why he can’t pick up items when his inventory is full.”

It should be noted that Path of Exile 2 is a very difficult game that requires a serious time commitment to reach the level that Musk’s character achieved (level 97 on hardcore mode).

The prevailing sentiment is that a man who is running multiple businesses simply does not have time to do this.

What Happened With Elon Musk And Asmongold?

Like many gaming streamers, Asmongold watched Musk’s livestream of Path of Exile 2 and came to the conclusion that Musk did not know how to play the game properly.

Asmon took it a step further, and challenged Musk to prove that he had reached level 97 by himself.

If Musk could prove this, Asmon promised that he would stream on X (Twitter) for a full year. Once the news of Asmon’s challenge made its way to X, Musk didn’t take the criticism very well. (snip-More)

Elon Musk riles up a new corner of the internet: Gamers

Musk’s livestreams in which he plays a popular role-playing game have sparked some in the gaming community to speculate that he’s not the gamer he claims to be.

Elon Musk is battling critics on the internet, again. This time, it’s the video game community.

The tech titan has in recent days taken time away from his roles as SpaceX CEO and adviser to President-elect Donald Trump to call out some of the gaming world’s niche content creators, firing back at accusations that he is not quite the gamer he purports to be. 

The allegations amount to a sort of stolen valor for video games and center on some recent livestreams in which Musk played Path of Exile 2, a popular online role-playing game in which players select from a number of characters to end corruption spreading through the fictional world of Wraeclast. When playing on hardcore mode, as Musk does, when a character dies, its death is permanent. As gamers play, their characters level up, increasing in power and capability. 

But many gamers have pointed out what they say is a crucial discrepancy. Two of Musk’s characters were particularly powerful — among the top 100 most powerful in the world — when they were “alive” (two characters tied to Musk have since “died” and are now ranked in the 30s and 200s, respectively). The levels of Musk’s now-deceased characters would require dozens if not hundreds of hours of gameplay, depending on the gamer, to achieve. His skills, however, appear to be lacking, according to some gamers.

“I’m a huge fan of Elon Musk — but this is embarrassing and very silly,” Zack Hoyt, who is known as Asmongold to his 3.29 million subscribers on YouTube, said in a video posted Sunday. “It makes him look bad and it’s for absolutely no reason. It’s of no consequence and it achieves no goal.” 

Criticism toward the X CEO — who has for years described himself as an avid gamer — began gaining traction online after he livestreamed himself playing Path of Exile 2 on Jan. 7. Days later, in the Reddit community for the game, some accused Musk of having someone “boost” his account, or play for him. Others suggested he’s playing using a more skilled player’s account.  (snip-More)

MAGA Policies and Christian Nationalist Rhetoric: America First Policy Institute Fills Trump’s Cabinet

https://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwatch/maga-policies-and-christian-nationalist-rhetoric-america-first-policy-institute

I keep saying these people won’t stop ever until they get their way.  They believe they are on a mission from their god to turn the entire country Christian.  But not just Christian, the kind of Christian they themselves are.  They want to force everyone to live according to their church doctrines.  Why?  I don’t understand it, but they think taking away the public’s freewill will make their god so happy he will return to give them their reward of a paradise on earth.  But I thought god’s kingdom was in heaven, not on earth?  But this idea that they and they alone know what god wants, that they and they alone have the right to tell others how to live, how to think, how to have sex, who to have sex with, what they can watch or listen to, even what god they can believe in, and how they are to pray to that god.  As they demand.  I do not get or understand what makes these people think they can rule other people, rule others lives, do all to others I have written above.  Why can they not give others the same rights they demand for themselves, the right to live their lives and worship as they please?  But please notice the wealthy person bankrolling so much of the effort to turn Texas in to a theocracy.  Think about his actions when others try to stop him to protect democracy?   He smears them to try to destroy them.  This is the type of Christian warrior he is and they are.  Do as I say not as I do, or the big one, it is OK to do bad things in the name of Jesus.   Hugs.

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Donald Trump in a tuxedo speaks at a lectern in front of logos for the America First Policy Institute and its political arm, America First Works.
Donald Trump at a November 2024 gala for America First Policy Institute and its political arm America First Works
 
by 
Peter Montgomery

The America First Policy Institute, a MAGA movement think tank founded by former Trump aides, has raised millions in tax-exempt funds to promote policies that would undermine public education, restrict access to abortion, limit voter registration and voting, roll back environmental protections, gut government’s ability to regulate corporate behavior, pursue campaigns against transgender people, and more.

AFPI has provided money, an institutional home, and political platforms to many of the people Trump has nominated to run the country; quite a few high-level Trump nominees have AFPI connections, including:

  • Pam Bondi, Attorney General (Chair, AFPI Center for Litigation; co-chair Center for Law and Justice) 
  • Kash Patel, FBI (Senior Fellow, AFPI Center for American Security)
  • Linda McMahon, Education (Board chair; chair, Center for the American Worker)
  • Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency (Chair, China Policy Initiative & Pathway to 2025)
  • John Ratcliffe, Central Intelligence Agency (C-chair Center for National Security)
  • Doug Collins, Veterans Affairs (head of Georgia AFPI Chapter)
  • Brooke Rollins, Agriculture (Co-founder, President and CEO)
  • Kevin Hassett, National Economic Council (Chair, Board of Academic Advisors)
  • Matthew Whitaker, NATO (Co-chair, Center for Law & Justice)
  • Casey Mulligan, Small Business Administration, chief counsel (Board of Academic Advisors)

Trump’s first public speech after winning the 2024 election was at an AFPI gala at Mar-a-Lago, where he was joined by other MAGA luminaries, including HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and “Department of Government Efficiency” leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

AFPI founder Rollins has bragged about the group’s “revolutionary” plans to seize control of the “administrative state.” The group’s agenda for the incoming administration—its “transition project”—is in some ways even more radical than the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. AFPI believes Trump should be allowed to fire and replace any federal employee at will – potentially converting the entire federal workforce into a massive and corrupt political patronage system. AFPI has reportedly prepared 300 executive orders for Trump.

As an officer at the America First Policy Institute, Bondi tried to undermine special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump by arguing that his appointment was unconstitutional. She oversaw what the Brennan Center has called “a number of troubling voting rights and election lawsuits,” leading the pro-democracy organization to conclude, “Her record on voting and elections raises questions about her ability to be the attorney general the American public deserves.”

In a case in which AFPI sought to empower local election officials to delay or block certification of elections, AFPI’s arguments were “meritless and radical,” according to the Brennan Center. In another case filed shortly before, even notorious pro-Trump Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk rejected AFPI’s “emergency” request to block a Biden executive order on voter registration that had been in place for several years. Kacsmaryk wrote that AFPI’s request provided “no direct evidence” to support its claims. The Brennan Center noted that the lawsuit “served to amplify baseless conspiracy theories about noncitizen voting.”

AFPI is funded in part by Tim Dunn, who the Texas Monthly has called “the billionaire bully who wants to turn Texas into a Christian theocracy.” Dunn is notorious for funding smear campaigns against Texas Republicans who don’t fall in line with his demands. Dunn poured millions of dollars into the effort to elect Trump to a second term, and supports other right-wing causes, like the Convention of States’ efforts to rewrite the U.S. Constitution. In a 2019 speech to Convention of States, Dunn argued that the Bible is “mainly about politics” and said that COS is triggering a Great Awakening.

Not so surprisingly, AFPI promotes Christian nationalist rhetoric; AFPI leaders have described their efforts as part of a “spiritual war.” AFPI’s political arm, which is chaired by Dunn, partnered with dominionist Lance Wallnau—who believes right-wing Christians are meant to control the government and every other sphere of influence in society–to help Trump return to power. Dunn himself reportedly told former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, who is Jewish, that only Christians should be in leadership positions in the legislature.

Also in leadership at AFPI is Trump spiritual and political adviser Paula White, who has repeatedly called Trump’s opponents demonic and kicked off his pre-insurrection rally with a prayer for “holy boldness.” White chairs AFPI’s Center for American Values.

AFPI’s faith director Richard Rogers, who took part in Wallnau’s “Courage Tour,” appeared on The Jim Bakker show this week, where he said there will be a “faith director” in every government agency in the new administration.  He predicted that the “prayer warriors” who “rose up” on Trump’s behalf in 2024 will “have more power than Elon Musk.” He described AFPI as a “data-driven machine” that worked “hand-in-hand” with the RNC to boost turnout among low-propensity voters.

AFPI claims “biblical foundations” for each of the ten “pillars” of its right-wing policy agenda, which it calls “10 Pillars for Restoring a Nation Under God.” It asserts, “The Ten Commandments and Christian teachings have been the foundation that created the American legal system.” AFPI’s website declares, “This fight is not just about the culture of America; it’s about the kingdom of God and the Church’s divine mission to be the salt and light of our day in an era of increasing darkness.”

NO ONE HAS ENACTED “ANTI-CHRISTIAN” POLICIES, EVER. That would be in direct violation of the Constitution.

These fucking loons think that if something is not 10000% pro-christianity, then by default it is 100000000% ANTI.

100% separation of church and state is just as important to the church as it is to the state, and possibly more so.

 

I’ve Got More Work to do on the Health Care Issue Here in my State-

Probably the taxes, too. There is a sense that they’re about to decide to try yet another Brownback ‘grand experiment’ while not addressing their work on funding the state. It’s a thing everyone with a state legislature has to do, though; monitor and lobby.

Kansas lawmakers will debate the taxes you pay and access to trans health care this session

Big fights on issues like transgender health care access will be repeated again this session as Republicans lead with a stronger majority.

Property tax cuts and access to care for young, transgender people are likely to be top issues in the Kansas Statehouse this year.

Top Kansas Republicans said they’ll look at amending the state constitution to put a cap on appraised values used to determine property taxes.

“People see these rapid appraisal increases, which turn into rapid tax increases,” Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson said. “Our hand in that is really giving the people the choice (as) to whether or not they want to have a cap.”

Masterson and Republican House Speaker Dan Hawkins spoke to KCUR’s Up to Date about their priorities heading into the 2025 legislative session. They said they want to eliminate the small chunk of property taxes that go towards the state’s construction and maintenance fund.

There are 21.5 mills levied for statewide property taxes. One-and-a-half mills go to the state; the rest goes to local governments.

Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is advising caution as the Legislature considers more tax cuts. The state has a budget surplus, but Kelly argues too many cuts at once could negatively impact state infrastructure like schools and roads.

Kelly vetoed several attempts at tax cuts last year that she said would be too costly for the state in the future. She wants to wait a year before pursuing further property tax cuts.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, however, said they would be open to some cuts this session, as long as they’re sustainable and benefit low-income Kansans.

“If we’re just talking about homeowners, and not helping our renters, that’s not going to be fair,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes said.

To help renters, they want the state to consider limiting rent increases and reinstating a tax credit for renters that was eliminated under then-Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican.

Republicans also said they plan to pursue a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

Advocates for gender-affirming care say an early transition can reduce the risk of suicide in transgender teens. But critics say it amounts to mutilation.

Kelly successfully vetoed similar bans in years past. But with Republicans gaining seats in the November election, they have better odds of overriding a potential veto.

“I will tell you with 100% certainty that that will be back,” Hawkins told the Kansas News Service. “And we will have votes on it, and (Kelly will) veto it again, and we’ll override that veto.”

House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard said Democratic leaders are willing to negotiate with Republicans on the topic this session.

“This is a much more complex issue than many of the legislators really understand,” he said.

“I think there is a way to hear the concerns without invading parental rights, without inserting ourselves into physician offices, and I know that we are open to having those discussions with leadership,” Woodard added.

Texas GOP chair claims church-state separation is a myth as lawmakers, pastors prep for “spiritual battle”

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/15/texas-legislature-christianity-church-state-separation/

These people are driven and a serious threat to democracy.  They demand a theocracy of their god and a government enforcing their church doctrines.  No non-Christians may be tolerated.  Look at what they say, we don’t want government in our churches but we should be in government, and there is no separation of church and state.  Plus how would these people react if a Muslim group did this, a Hindu church, or even a Jewish temple?   They would lose their minds.   Somewhere in the past the atheist stopped fighting these people and let them use their endless supply of church members contributions to push their goals ever closer to taking over.  We must again fight back, get the people to understand the risk and what is true in history.   These people will rewrite every thing to prove their lies.  Hugs.

“There is no separation between church and state,” Republican Party of Texas Chair Abraham George said at a small rally with clergy and GOP lawmakers. “We don’t want the government in our churches, but we should be in the government.”

Polling from the Public Religion Research Institute found that more than half of Republicans adhere to or sympathize with pillars of Christian nationalism, including that the U.S. should be a strictly Christian nation. Of those respondents, roughly half supported having an authoritarian leader who maintains Christian dominance in society. Experts have also found strong correlations between Christian nationalist beliefs and opposition to immigration, racial justice and religious diversity.

One of his movement’s ultimate goals, he said Tuesday, is to draw a lawsuit that they can eventually take to the U.S. Supreme Court, which they believe will ultimately overturn the prohibition and unleash a new wave of conservative, Christian activism.

One Christian nationalism expert said Tuesday’s events showed how normalized the ideology has become among broad swaths of the Republican Party. “I’ve argued for years that, in the Trump era, charismatic evangelicals have displaced the old guard of the (Religious Right) and brought in a new, more aggressive evangelical politics,” Matthew Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, & Jewish Studies, wrote on social media. “That was on vivid display in (Texas) today.”

Taylor has spent much of his career focused on the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of “charismatic” Christians who often weave prophecy, “spiritual warfare” and demonology into their calls for Christians to take control over all spheres of society.

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Abraham George’s comments are the latest sign of the state GOP’s embrace of fundamentalist ideologies that seek to center public life around their faith.

 
Landon Schott, pastor of Mercy Culture, leads a worship service in the state Capitol extension auditorium on the first day of the 2025 state legislative session in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025.
 
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune
 

Two hours after Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock was elected Texas House speaker on Tuesday, Christian worshippers gathered in a Capitol meeting room to prepare for “spiritual war” and protect lawmakers from demonic forces.

“Pray for the fear of the Lord to come into this place,” Landon Schott intoned from the stage as a small band played acoustic hymns and 100 or so faithful laid their hands on walls, hoping to bless the room and ward off evil spirits. “Let the fear of the Lord return to Austin. In Jesus’ name.”

Schott is the pastor of Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth, and was among the Christian leaders who spent Tuesday rallying fellow believers ahead of a legislative session that they hope will further codify their conservative religious views into law. He was joined in those efforts by a throng of pastors and Republican leaders, who throughout the day claimed that church-state separation isn’t real, called progressive Christians heretics, or vowed to weed out “cowardly” clergy who refuse to politick from the pulpit.

“There is no separation between church and state,” Republican Party of Texas Chair Abraham George said at a small rally with clergy and GOP lawmakers. “We don’t want the government in our churches, but we should be in the government.”

 

George’s comments — delivered some-50 yards from another rally that focused on interfaith unity — are the latest sign of the Texas GOP’s embrace of fundamentalist ideologies that seek to center public life around their faith by claiming church-state separation is a myth or that America’s founding was God-ordained, and its laws should thus favor conservative Christianity.

Polling from the Public Religion Research Institute found that more than half of Republicans adhere to or sympathize with pillars of Christian nationalism, including that the U.S. should be a strictly Christian nation. Of those respondents, roughly half supported having an authoritarian leader who maintains Christian dominance in society. Experts have also found strong correlations between Christian nationalist beliefs and opposition to immigration, racial justice and religious diversity.

Worshippers link hands in prayer while attending a worship service led by a variety of religious groups from across Texas, including My God Votes, in the Capitol extension auditorium.
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune

The party’s embrace of those separate-but-overlapping ideologies has come as it has increasingly aligned with far-right megadonors Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, two West Texas oil billionaires who have sought to cleanse the Texas GOP of moderate voices and push their hardline religious views. At the same time, some Republican lawmakers have adopted an increasingly existential view of politics that paints opponents — unwitting or not — as part of a concerted effort to destroy Christianity, including by normalizing LGBTQ+ acceptance or undermining “traditional” family structures.

Such claims have been used as the pretext for a litany of bills and reforms that would further infuse Christianity into public life. During the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers passed a law allowing unlicensed chaplains to supplant counselors in public schools; sought to weaken Texas’ constitutional ban on providing taxpayer money to religious institutions, a core plank of the school voucher movement; and almost passed a bill that would require the Ten Commandments to be posted in public school classrooms.

Lawmakers are expected to continue that trend during this year’s legislative session (the Ten Commandments bill already has been refiled). And pastors, emboldened by President Donald Trump’s reelection and the ultraconservative U.S. Supreme Court, said Tuesday that they believe they have their best shot yet to topple the church-state wall and the Johnson Amendment, a federal rule that prohibits churches from engaging in overt political activity.

Rick Scarborough has spent decades working to do exactly that. A former Southern Baptist pastor in Pearland, he has become a leader in a movement that seeks to mobilize pastors and undermine the Johnson Amendment, which he says is toothless but has been used by “cowardly” pastors who don’t want to engage in politics. The result, he said, has been an ineffectual Texas Legislature that has often cowered to the LGBTQ+ community and their heretical, progressive Christian allies. (Texas lawmakers have passed dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in recent years, overriding opposition from a large majority of Democrats).

One of his movement’s ultimate goals, he said Tuesday, is to draw a lawsuit that they can eventually take to the U.S. Supreme Court, which they believe will ultimately overturn the prohibition and unleash a new wave of conservative, Christian activism.

“The Johnson Amendment is nothing but a fig leaf to cover the fear that pastors already have,” he said in an interview after praying over GOP lawmakers on the Capitol lawn. “Most pastors are so fearful of their reputation that they won’t stand, and they don’t know how much God will defend them if they get out there and stand up and speak fearlessly.”

 

Few congregations have taken up Scarborough’s mantle like Mercy Culture Church, the Fort Worth congregation that Schott pastors. In recent years, Mercy Culture has become an epicenter of Texas’ fundamentalist Christian movement, helping push the state and local GOP further right, demonizing their detractors — Schott has called critics of the church “warlocks” and “witches,” and claimed Christians can’t vote for Democrats — and rallying voters behind church leaders as they campaign for public office. Among the church’s pastors is Rep. Nate Schatzline, who was elected to the Texas House in 2022 and has since continued to frame his political life as part of broader, spiritual struggle.

“This isn’t a physical battle,” Schatzline said in a Tuesday interview. “It’s not a political battle we’re in. We really believe this is a spiritual battle.”

Hours later, Schatzline kicked off the worship session at the Capitol with a bold promise.

“We’re going to give this space back to the Holy Spirit,” he said. “We give You this room. … The 89th Legislative session is Yours, Lord. The members of this body are Yours, Lord. This building belongs to You, Jesus.”

 

One Christian nationalism expert said Tuesday’s events showed how normalized the ideology has become among broad swaths of the Republican Party. “I’ve argued for years that, in the Trump era, charismatic evangelicals have displaced the old guard of the (Religious Right) and brought in a new, more aggressive evangelical politics,” Matthew Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, & Jewish Studies, wrote on social media. “That was on vivid display in (Texas) today.”

Taylor has spent much of his career focused on the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of “charismatic” Christians who often weave prophecy, “spiritual warfare” and demonology into their calls for Christians to take control over all spheres of society.

Members of that movement played central roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, and were well-represented at the Texas Capitol on Tuesday: Schatzline and Mercy Culture have deep ties to the New Apostolic Reformation, as does Brandon Burden, a Frisco pastor who led a caravan of buses and activists to pressure lawmakers ahead of the House speaker vote. In January 2021, he told his congregants to keep weapons loaded for what he prophesied would be a national blackout orchestrated to keep Trump out of office.

Burden repeatedly appeared alongside Republican officials on Tuesday. Minutes after George, the Texas GOP chair, claimed that church-state separation doesn’t exist, Burden led a group of pastors and activists as they prayed over a small group of GOP lawmakers. “We take charge and authority of the 89th legislative session,” he prayed. “We, the people of God, called by the name of Jesus and covered in the blood of the lamb, have been given spiritual jurisdiction over the affairs of men.”

Clay Jones Is Going to Be a National Treasure Before This Next Pres. Term is Up…

Not that he isn’t already, but this one is gold!

Mama Hegseth by Clay Jones

Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be Hegseth Read on Substack

When asked about sexual assault, sexual harassment, alcohol abuse, financial mismanagement, and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), Trump’s nominee for the Secretary of Defense and former Fox News fixture Pete Hegseth said, “Our left-wing media in America today, sadly, doesn’t care about the truth, All they were out to do was to destroy me because I’m a change agent and a threat to them. Despite the attacks, I stand committed to the truth and our warfighters.”

If Hegseth is so committed to the truth, then why did he refuse to answer so many questions during his confirmation hearing yesterday? Oh, yeah…because he’s a racist rapey liar. Also, if Hegeseth is so “committed” to the truth, then why is he working for the world’s biggest liar, Donald Trump?

Hegseth claimed he didn’t know if he had nondisclosure agreements with his two ex-wives. How do you not know that? He also dodged questions from my senator, Tim Kaine, about cheating on his wives, even shortly after one of them gave birth. Damn, he is like Donald Trump.

Hegseth refused to answer Senator Tammy Duckworth’s question about whether he had ever conducted a financial audit of the veterans organizations he once ran (that forced him out for being constantly drunk, sexually harassing female employees, and shouting, “Death to all Muslims”), given his insistence that the Pentagon undergo a deep-dive audit.

Pete is also a big fan of war criminals as he advocated on Fox News for Trump to pardon several in 2019 without disclosing he had private conversations with Trump on the matter. That was a violation of journalism ethics, even when working for Fox News.

Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin attempted to flip the script on Democrats, asking, “How many senators have shown up drunk to vote at night?”

Mullin also asked, “Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign from their job? And then how many senators do you know who have gotten a divorce for cheating on their wives? Did you ask them to step down? No.” I’m pretty sure Mullin never asked Donald Trump to step down.

Mullin and the other Republicans on the committee are perfectly fine with an unqualified racist rapey lying drunk leading the defense department, just as they are for president, but Democrats are not. That wasn’t entirely fair of me. Donald Trump isn’t a drunk.

Hegseth refused to answer if he’d take an illegal order from Trump to shoot protesters in their legs, as he wanted his previous Defense Secretary to do to anti-racism protesters in Lafayette Square who scared Trump to retreat and hide in the White House bunker. But he seems in favor of it as he seemed to justify shooting protesters while criticizing them instead of answering the question.

Question: Will you follow Trump’s orders to shoot protesters?
Pete: Well a lot of them aren’t nice and they say things we don’t like, “Trump sucks” and “Trump wears diapers.”
Question: But will you order them to be shot?
Pete: They attacked a church.
Question: Again, will you order them to be shot?
Pete: They scared Trump and made him wet himself in the basement, and we had to sing lullabies to get him to sleep.
Question: But would you have the protester shot?
Pete: They looked like a bunch of dirty hippies.
Question: But will you have them shot?
Pete: The sex was consensual…wait…What was the question?

He also refused to say if he’d direct the military to invade Panama and Greenland.

Pete previously claimed he’d quit drinking if he’s confirmed. When asked if he would resign as Defense Secretary if he started drinking again, he refused to answer and said, “I’m too drunk to taste this chicken.” I may have made up that answer.

Pete claimed he was a “changed man” and unlike the deviant he used to be, thanks to Jesus. He said, “I have failed at things in my life, and I am redeemed by my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.” Somehow, this redemption doesn’t affect his lying.

Pete claimed he was for women serving in combat despite only a few months ago saying he didn’t.

Pete said, “Writing a book is different than being Secretary of Defense,” which should be noted because writing a book doesn’t make you qualified to be Secretary of Defense anymore than being a racist barking yam qualifies you to be president.

At one point, Senator Mullin tried to say, “Give me a break,” but flubbed it and said, “Give me a joke.” During his monologue last night, Stephen Colbert delivered a joke for Senator Mullin, saying, “A drunk, a cheating husband, and an accused sexual predator walk into a bar, and the bartender says, ‘Table for one, Mr. Hegseth?’”

That’s funny, but the real joke is to believe that philandering seed spreading women-beating drunken lying rancid rotten no-good piece of shit Pete Hegseth is qualified to be Secretary of Defense. Colleagues, don’t steal that from me for a cartoon.

Creative notes: I think this is my fourth cartoon on Hegseth. I wrote this cartoon during my trip through the UK and Ireland, but I’m not sure which country or city it was written in. This was drawn in London, this was drawn in Dublin, and this was drawn in Reykjavik. I saved the idea for today’s cartoon for the confirmation hearing…and then I forgot about it. I remembered it just this morning.

On another note: I want to thank all my subscribers again, especially the paid subscribers for helping me continue to draw cartoons, write blogs, make videos, and continue my reign of sarcastic terror on MAGAts without the distractions of a real job and being required to show up at places I don’t want to be at specific times and attend boring meetings and stuff. I love you free subscribers too but honestly, the paid subscribers smell better. If you want to smell better too, like you’re wearing Irish Spring after an early morning rain while standing next to a bagel shop, then you should become a paid subscriber too.

I don’t know where I come up with this shit…but thank you again. Now I want a bagel.

Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go watch. Now I want a bagel, too!)

Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Sarah McBride a ‘groomer’ and ‘child predator’ for reading to kids

Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Sarah McBride a ‘groomer’ and ‘child predator’ for reading to kids

Notice that Marge Greene has not volunteered to read to kids.  Maybe she struggles with the words, but I am sure the kids would help her sound them out.  I am tired of the internet troll wannabees that are masquerading as Federal congress people now.   All this is for is to get her name in the press, get hate generated at a marginalized group for doing what she can’t.  It is for the clicks.  It is the chimp standing on the rock beating her chest shouting “look at me”.  The thing is we have tried to ignore it but they won’t go away, and the louder they get the more the fellow monkeys believe them.  So we must take the offense and show them the clowns they are.  We must fight back.  Hugs.  

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Far-right congresswoman dead named transgender colleague

Far-right U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) leveled the baseless and false accusation that U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) a “groomer” and “child predator” in a post on X Monday, responding to a video shared by the anti-LGBTQ account Libs of TikTok in which the freshman congresswoman is seen reading to kids in a classroom.

According to the signage featured in the clip, McBride, who is the first transgender member of Congress, was participating in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s “Jazz and Friends National Day of School and Community Readings.”

The program is part of the organization’s Welcoming Schools initiative, which provides “trainings and resources for elementary school educators” to help “welcome diverse families, create LGBTQ and gender inclusive schools, prevent bias-based bullying, and support transgender and nonbinary students.”

Prior to her first election to the Delaware state legislature, McBride served as press secretary for HRC from 2016-2021.

Monday’s post was not the first time in which Greene has, without evidence, accused LGBTQ people and allies of child sexual abuse or grooming, often for their support of age-appropriate classroom instruction on matters of LGBTQ history, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

She is not alone. As culture wars over issues of sexual orientation and gender identity have intensified in recent years, conservatives have increasingly used false allegations of pedophilia, bringing back a smear that was historically used against gay, queer, and trans people but until recently was considered out of bounds in mainstream political discourse.

RAINN, a national anti-sexual violence group, has highlighted the ways in which these baseless allegations are harmful not just to LGBTQ people but also to children, because they can diminish the experience of survivors and steal the focus away from real cases of child sexual abuse.

After her election to Congress in November, Greene and other House Republicans like U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina began attacking McBride, personally — proposing rules to prohibit her from using women’s restrooms in the Capitol and deliberately dead-naming and misgendering her.

By contrast, McBride last week introduced bipartisan legislation with GOP U.S. Rep. Young Kim (Calif.) to protect consumers from fraudulent scams that offer false promises to repair poor credit scores, becoming the first first-year member to introduce a bill designed to help American families.

The Washington Blade has reached out to representatives from HRC, McBride’s office, and the Congressional Equality Caucus for comment on Greene’s post.

Boy republicans and wealthy simply don’t stop do they

SD GOP Bill Requires Teaching Ten Commandments
Mel Gibson Suggests Dems “Commissioned” Wildfires

“But I don’t know. I can make all kinds of horrible theories up in my head, conspiracy theories and everything else, but it just seemed a little convenient that there was no water and that the wind conditions were right and that there are people ready and willing and able to start fires.

“And are they commissioned to do so or just acting on their own volition?” – Mel “Horse Paste Cures Cancer” Gibson, last night on Laura Ingraham’s show.

The QAnon nutbags are applauding.

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House GOP Bill Authorizes Trump To Buy Greenland

Ogles last appeared here in August 2024 when the FBI raided his home over allegedly fraudulent campaign finance reports.

Weeks earlier, he appeared here when he filed articles of impeachment against Kamala Harris hours after she formally announced her bid for president.

Also last year, he introduced a bill that would ban gag orders for all federal defendants.

Shortly after he was elected, Ogles was found to have lied about his education and background, drawing comparisons to George Santos.

DeSantis Calls Special Session To Speed Deportations
Johnson: California Aid Will Come With “Conditions”

Recent federal disaster aid to Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Georgia contained no conditions or “strings attached.”

Florida Man Who Destroyed Rainbow Crosswalk Takes Plea Deal: Probation, Community Service, Loses License

Lucky the above guy who destroyed expensive public property did not get caught buying weed or being a doctor saving a woman’s life by giving them a needed abortion.   Hugs 

Felon-Elect Celebrates California Wildfires With Meme
Musk Has Already Influenced Policy To Benefit Himself
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1869877910519058489
Meta Deletes Trans Themes From Messenger App

New: Meta has deleted trans and nonbinary Messenger themes, as well as the blog posts announcing them. Happens the same week that it has changed its rules to allow users to say LGBTQ+ people are "mentally ill"www.404media.co/meta-deletes…

— Jason Koebler (@jasonkoebler.bsky.social) 2025-01-10T17:09:50.416Z
Amazon Deletes Commitments To LGBTQ Rights
Cultists Attack CA Insurance Chief For Being Gay

Despite the action noted above, the cult – led by Libs Of TikTok – is now attacking Lara for being gay. 

Trump Team Begins Loyalty Purge Of Civil Servants
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Amazon cuts mentions of DEI and LGBTQ rights from public policies

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/01/10/amazon-removes-black-trans-rights/

Another large company has fallen to right wing pressure and the fear of being on tRump’s bad side.  This right wing media pressure campaign we had better find a way to stop and combat.  Hugs.  

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A commitment to helping Black people live “free from fear,” and all occurrences of the term “transgender” disappeared from a page listing the online retailer’s policies late last month.

 
An Amazon logo hangs on a wall at Amazon’s HQ2 in Crystal City, Virginia in 2023. (Eric Lee for the Washington Post)
 
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As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, Amazon has cut commitments to protecting the rights of Black and LGBTQ+ people from a public listing of its corporate policies.

Statements that said Amazon supported the rights of transgender people and would protect the safety of Black employees and customers disappeared from a webpage stating the company’s positions late in December, archived versions show.

Sections titled “Equity for Black people” and “LGBTQ+ rights” were removed from the page, along with all mentions of the term transgender. The “Diversity, equity, and inclusion” section was updated to say that “inequitable treatment of anyone — including Black people, LGBTQ+ people, Asians, women, and others — is unacceptable.”
 

The changes come as other corporations have also adjusted their policies in ways apparently calculated to fit the change of political weather in Washington.

 

McDonald’s this month scaled back its diversity goals and Meta confirmed Friday that it would dismantle its employee diversity and equity, or DEI, programs. A growing number of Fortune 500 companies have abandoned or reduced DEI initiatives in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action in college admissions in 2023.

Some Amazon employees who noticed the changes to its policy page this week were dismayed by the apparent changes in the company’s positions, screenshots of internal conversations seen by The Washington Post showed. The Information earlier reported the changes.
 

Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in an email statement, “We update this page from time to time to ensure that it reflects updates we’ve made to various programs and positions.” The company also pointed to an internal memo from December in which vice president Candi Castleberry said it was rolling back some DEI initiatives. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.

 

Before late December, Amazon’s webpage listing its policy positions said the company stood “in solidarity” with Black employees and customers, and supported “legislation to combat misconduct and racial bias in policing, efforts to protect and expand voting rights, and initiatives that provide better health and educational outcomes for Black people.”

The paragraph containing those statements is no longer on the webpage.

 

Amazon also previously said on that page it was “working at the U.S. federal and state level on legislation” on protections for transgender people. It said that the company provided “gender transition benefits based on the Standards of Care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).” The section with those claims has also been deleted.

Trump’s sweeping deportation threat is unworkable and aimed at ‘rabid’ Republicans, says Newt Gingrich

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/13/trump-immigration-newt-gingrich

Well well well.  Now that he got his party / his guy elected, he admits it was all just a game that was not possible.  He is trying to shove some of the years of slime off himself and crawl to the side of good.   Too late Newt.  You choose your path, stay in your pen or your own fellows will turn on you and destroy you themselves.  Hugs

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Former US House speaker says documented people, Dreamers, mothers and children must not be deported

 

Man in suit speaks into microphone

Newt Gingrich during the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 17 July 2024. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Newt Gingrich, the former US House speaker and presidential hopeful, said a section of his own Republican party was “rabid” over immigration and predicted Donald Trump’s suggestion that he could deport documented people as well as millions of undocumented people will not come to pass.

“I’d be very surprised if you see any significant effort to change the game for people who are here legally,” Gingrich said, weeks before Trump’s return to the White House. “I just think there’s a very small faction of the party that’s rabid about this.”

 

He also warned that public support for mass deportations would “collapse” if stories began to come out “about mothers or babies or children being deported”.

The president-elect may not welcome Gingrich’s intervention. After all, Trump won last year’s election promising mass deportations involving the armed forces and detention camps. He has chosen ultra-hardliners including Tom Homan and Stephen Miller and has suggested his administration will attempt to remove children and documented people, telling NBC: “I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back.”

Also at issue is the fate of millions of so-called Dreamers, undocumented people who were children when they were brought to the US, and Trump’s vow to remove birthright citizenship, a right protected by the 14th amendment but which Trump says he will strike down by executive order.

Amid widespread predictions of chaos and protest, Gingrich said he was “passionately in favor of trying to help find a path to create legality for the Dreamers”, a position that may put him less at odds with Trump, given Trump’s suggestion he might accept a deal on the matter.

Gingrich continued: “It’s nonsense to say somebody who came here when they were two, only speaks English, graduated as a high school valedictorian and is currently a nurse or a doctor should be deported. We’re going to deport them and they don’t speak the language of whatever country their parents came from, and they’ve earned the right to be Americans?

“ … I think [the Trump administration has to] to realize that there are gradations here that we’re dealing with, and try to think through, how do you both meet the long-term identity and national security interests of the country and meet the human concerns. And I think it’s a real challenge.”

Now 81, Gingrich was a Georgia representative from 1979 to 1999, the last four years as House speaker. In 2012, he ran for the Republican presidential nomination. A prolific author, he remains close to Trump, to whom he offered advice during the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Gingrich spoke to the Guardian to mark the release of Journey to America with Newt and Callista Gingrich, a PBS documentary made with his wife about immigrants who have made major contributions to US public life.

“We are a nation of law despite some of the things that have been said [by Trump and his allies],” he said. “And I think that if you have legal standing in the American system, it’s very difficult to deport you. On the other hand, if you have no legal standing, it’s pretty easy to deport you, right? And I’m for doing the easy first. That’s why we should give [Dreamers] legal status, as a practical matter.”

Along those lines, Gingrich has put out a seven-step immigration plan, perhaps for Trump to consider.

Gingrich offered another warning: “Lincoln once said that with popular sentiment, anything is possible; without popular sentiment, nothing is possible. Well, you get very many human stories about mothers or babies or children being deported, then support for the deportation program will collapse.”

Let’s talk about no drill baby drilling in Alaska, Biden, and a question….