The Supremes Think About the Unthinkable

 That this absurd argument is even being made before the Supreme Court is an embarrassment to the Constitution and to our country.

Former Federal Judge Mihael Luttig

Yeah, Judge, unfortunately that happens a lot when Donald Trump is involved. Last Thursday Trump's lawyer, John Sauer stood in front of the highest court in the land and essentially told them Trump, or any other President, could have political opponents killed and if they decided to do so, even overthrow the government itself without the fear of prosecution. In other words, once you get elected President you are a Dictator for however long you want, ala Saddam Hussein. 

Previous Supreme Courts would have never considered autocratic lunacy such as this. Indeed, for nearly 250 years the idea an American attorney would even suggest a President is above the law has been unthinkable.       

However, as Hesse once wrote in a different context, this Magic Theater isn't for everybody. Instead of throwing Sauer out of the building and to the horror of nearly every constitutional scholar out there, at least four of the justices appeared to take this madness seriously. Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh0, and Gorsuch all sort of shrugged and began asking questions which led many analysts to believe they were at least thinking about the prospect of an Imperial presidency.

The four all seemed to be trying to divide the question in to two parts, "official acts," and, "private acts." They appeared to be hinting a President was immune if the crime is an official act, but not so if it is a private one. Sauer picked up on the thought immediately. When asked about Nixon's pardon, in the blink of an eye, he claimed Mr. Nixon had to be pardoned for private acts. And that's the problem. The difference between private and official acts tend to depend on one's point of view.

Samuel Alito took it a step further when he wondered aloud if a democratic society would be, "destabilized," if an incumbent President had to worry about being prosecuted after leaving office by a, "bitter political rival."  None of us really know the answer to that, but we do know organizing fake electors. attempting to strongarm your own Vice President, and urging a mob of supporters to march on the capitol en masse sure feels like someone is destabilizing it.   

What wasn't mentioned is other than Donald J. Trump and perhaps Dick Nixon no other President's in the history of the republic have worried about being prosecuted after leaving office. That might be because no one else pulled the criminal bullshit Trump and Nixon did. Or it could be because, unlike Trump, all the other Presidents actually read the Constitution before they took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend it. 

Which ever the case most of the media, "experts," think Alito, Gorsuch, Thomas, and Kavanaugh are in Trump's pocket. Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson, and Barrett are opposed to them. That leaves Chief Justice John Roberts as the deciding vote and no one, on any of the cable news networks would hazard a guess as to which way he is leaning. 

The only thing we are sure of at this point is that the Supreme Court of the United States handed Donald Trump a victory, just by listening to his attorney. The Washington and Mar A Lago federal trials are on hold until there is a decision and no one believes either \will start before the November elections. That's exactly what Trump wanted. 

In the mean time we are left to think about what happened last Thursday. How did we arrive at this moment in history when democracy as we know it may hang on a single vote? Because that is what this is ultimately about--the survival of democracy as we know it. Don't ever try to fool yourself into believing it isn't.

sic vita est

4-29-24

The MAGA Tide in Congress Ebbs

 On Saturday Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson and 100 of his fellow republicans finally grew a pair. It was a long time coming. In fact, given recent Congressional history, some observers weren't sure it would ever happen, at least not with this gaggle of fascist performance artists, publicity hungry assholes, and groveling cowards.

Indeed, the MAGA reign of terror appeared to have a death grip on republicans serving in the House, despite their lack of numbers. That ended about 48 hours ago when a Ukraine aid bill passed 311-112. The yeas included 101 republicans. The package passed despite MAGA objections, threats, and bullying that included everything up to and including the removal of Johnson from the speakership, ala Kevin McCarthy. 

The MAGA reaction to the House vote was swift and predictably over the top. Democrats helped fuel the fire by waving small Ukrainian flags after the results were announced. Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene led the charge by booing the flag wavers, Colorado Representative, Lauren Boebert yelled at them angrily and Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna grabbed the microphone, despite not being recognized to speak, and yelled, "Put those damn flags away!"

It is unknown if Vladimir Putin was on the phone with any of them at the time. 

Greene later posted on social media a video of the pro Ukrainian demonstration and wrote, "Mike Johnson's House of Representatives so proud to work for Ukraine. Not the American people!!!" Boebert wrote, "Such an embarrassing and disgusting show of America LAST politicians." She later added, "You love Ukraine so much get your ass over there and leave America's governing to those who love THIS country!"

Republican Congressman Clay Higgins posted his own video of the democrats waving Ukrainian flags and wrote, "All Democrats waving Ukrainian flags on your house floor when the bill passed sending another 60B of your treasure to fund the war machine. 100% deficit money. Borrowed on the backs of your children. Wake up America." 

This sudden concern about deficit spending appeared right after the MAGA Big Kahuna Donald Trump--who didn't give a rat's ass about the deficit and could spend money like a drunken sailor on shore leave--vacated the White House. However, it at least makes a little more sense than what Marjorie Taylor Greene told the media after the vote. She was quoted saying, "This is the sellout of America today. When we had members of Congress in there waving Ukrainian flags on the United States House of Representatives floor while we're doing nothing to secure our border." 

The hypocrisy of the statement is breathtaking. It wasn't that long ago Greene, along with other republicans in the House, voted to kill a bill which clamped down hard on immigration. It was authored by conservative republican Senators and Joe Biden had vowed to sign it. Herr Trump wanted it defeated only because it would have robbed him of his most potent campaign issue. In other words when you had a chance to, "do something," to secure the border, Congresswoman you chose to do nothing because pleasing your boss was more important than helping solve the problem.

Yes, at least for now the MAGA tide in Congress seems to be ebbing. Think not? Texas republican Congressman Tony Gonzales appeared on CNN yesterday. When asked if Speaker Mike Johnson will survive after supporting the aid to Ukraine he said simply, "He will survive." That sounds like a man who knows a deal has been struck and Greene will never get the votes to unseat another Speaker. Gonzales, who voted for the bill, then went on to tell the network's Dana Bash, "I serve with some real scumbags." 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, also sounds like a man who is tired of being pushed around by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and the rest of Don Trump's cadre of legislative brown shirts. 

4-22-24

God's Misfits and Good Old American Family Values

 Tifany Adams and Tad Cullum lived together on a piece of land n Cimarron County Oklahoma. Their friends, Cole and Cora Twombly lived nearby, or at least as nearby as you can get in the breathtaking emptiness that is the Oklahoma panhandle. All four friends were members of a group going by the name of God's Misfits. According to reports they consider themselves both religious and anti government. 

Given the history of rural, quasi-religious/anti government cults over the last few decades authorities weren't taking any chances last Saturday. When law enforcement moved in to serve arrest warrants the News Nation video of the raid showed an overwhelming force converging on the four. Indeed, it looked like everyone, up to and including Seal Team 6, was involved. Listen, you can't take any chances with people like that, especially when the chargers are murder in the first degree and kidnapping.  

Yes, Tifany Adams, the grandmother of two young children, her boyfriend, and two acquaintances were arrested and charged with murdering Veronica Butler, Adams' ex daughter in law. They are also charged with murdering Jilian Kelley, because--well--she was there. The two Kansas women went missing on March 30 while on their way to pick up Butler's children for a birthday party. Police say the motive was a child custody battle between Adams and Butler, The children's father, Wrangler Rickman wasn't part of the fight because he is busy serving out a court ordered stint in a drug rehab center in Oklahoma City.

News Nation, the only cable news network covering this nightmare, is reporting Adams has claimed Veronica Butler's brother, or half brother, or step brother, or some kind of brother, has been sexually abusing the two children who are 8 and 6 years old. She hasn't provided any proof of the accusation and in fact was facing a court hearing tomorrow when Butler was expected to ask for expanded visitation rights without court approved supervision. Ms. Kelley, was that supervision the weekend she and Butler disappeared. Apparently she was a last minute replacement. The woman who normally served in that capacity was told by Adams she didn't need to be there, Adams then told her former daughter in law the woman wasn't available. At this point it isn't known if Jilian Kelley's presence in the car was a surprise to the killers, or not.   

On Sunday, one day after the arrests, two bodies were recovered from a shallow grave on property rented by Tad Cullum. Police are saying Cullum dug the grave the day before the disappearance. It's unclear at this time if the authorities found the burial site on their own, or one of the four alleged killers gave it up. What is clear, however is law enforcement investigators found blood inside and outside Butler's abandoned car, Kelley's purse inside it, with a loaded semi automatic pistol magazine, but no weapon, and Veronica Butler's glasses nearby on the road.

In addition the OSBI has found dear old grandma had recently bought five tasers, been Googling pages explaining the effects of taser hits, and had purchased a number of what is known as, burner phones. 

As further proof of how twisted this shit is, it looks like the key witness and the person who broke the case is the Twombly's 16 year old daughter. Court records say she told police her parents had left their home the morning of the crime because according to them, they were going on, "a mission." When they returned they told her to clean up the cab of their pick up. News Nation is reporting that after word of the abductions had spread the girl asked her parents why Kelley was killed also. They told her because, "she was evil for helping Veronica Butler." Jilian Kelley was the wife of a pastor who worked as her church's secretary. She was the mother of four.

So, as of right now here is where things stand out in the panhandle. Two women are dead. Two children no longer have a mother, their father is in drug rehab after doing hard time in prison, and their grandmother, at the very least could be going away for the rest of her life. Four additional children are now without a mother. And, a 16 year old girl is in the position of having to testify against her parents in a trial which could see both of them get the death penalty. 

Hey, thank God for good old American family values, not to mention child psychologists.

4-16-24

Moscow Marjorie Turns a Couple of Tricks

 The first thing one must understand about Georgia republican Congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene is that she is bat shit crazy. Not crazy in the funny way either. You know, like the eccentric old aunt in the movie, "Christmas Vacation," who mistakenly brings her cat over in a gift-wrapped box as a present, then recites the Pledge of Allegiance when she is asked to say grace before dinner. No, Ms. Greene is crazy more along the lines of Aileen Wuornos, the Florida street hooker who murdered seven of her, let's say, clients.  

Of course, MTG, as she's known in the trade, doesn't sell her body along stretches of lonely highways like Wuornos did. However, sometimes one can't help but feel Vlad Putin has paid her cash, somewhere, somehow, to perform unnatural acts that even the most hardcore pros would be revolted by. And all of it wrapped in flag and a brand of Christianity completely alien to most Christians and to the, as we say, Word of the Lord.

Last week, after an earthquake, centered in New Jersey, and prior to Monday's eclipse she posted on social media this quasi piece of prophecy, "God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent. Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come. I pray that our country listens." 

The translation to that being, America must do what Donald Trump and I say, while applauding as Russia runs completely amok in Ukraine, or God Almighty will punish us all. She failed to mention the quake's epicenter was located only a couple of miles away from the 12th hole of Trump's Bedminster National Golf Club, a fact which some mystics might consider a major part of, The Sign.

Well, irony is lost on many, especially when it conflicts with their message.

Recently during an online interview Greene said this about the war in Ukraine, "This is a war on Christianity. The Ukrainian government is attacking Christians. The Ukrainian government is executing priests, Russia is not doing that. They're not attacking Christianity. They seem to be protecting it, so that's something else that's clear and obvious to many people that are looking closely to what's going on." 

When I saw that statement my first thought was ask myself how much Vladimir Putin had to pay her for that particular blow job. It was such a blatant and ham handed propaganda moment, recently retired republican Congressman, Ken Buck began referring to MTG as, "Moscow Marjorie." 

"...Moscow Marjorie is focused now on this Ukraine issue and getting her talking points from the Kremlin and making sure that she is popular and she is getting a lot of coverage," Buck told CNN.  

Greene is so determined to abet Putin's rape of Ukraine she is currently threatening to bring down a second republican Speaker of the House to get her way. Her current excuse, other than being in bed with Vlad, is that Ukrainian aid isn't contingent on beefing up security at the U.S. southern border. 

That she had it once, thanks to republicans in the Senate doesn't phase her. Donald Trump didn't want to lose the chaos on the border during the campaign so Greene opposed a bill drafted by conservatives which gave the GOP everything they had asked for, short of gunning down anyone trying to get across the river. 

Yes, the Congresswoman from Georgia is as nuts as they come. That isn't the real problem though. Not even her willingness to suck off Vlad Putin, or do whatever, Don Trump wants is the real problem. The real problem with Marjorie Taylor Greene is, just like her Russian john and her American pimp, she thinks democracy is a complete waste of time and has no use for it. 

And tragically for the nation and world, because of this contempt, she is more than happy to fuck it over, no matter where it is. 

4-10-24

Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley Drive into the Void

 The panhandle of Oklahoma is a strip of land that is 166 miles long and 34 miles wide. It is comprised of three counties, moving east to west, Beaver, Texas, and Cimarron. The 2020, U.S. census found that a little fewer than 29,000 souls live in the panhandle, not quite half of them in Guymon, the seat of Texas County. These statistics are mentioned only to illustrate one point. In the panhandle of Oklahoma there is a whole lot of empty fucking space. It is, in fact, the very definition of the phrase, "the middle of no where."

At some point a week ago today two women, Veronica Butler, and Jilian Kelley drove into this void and then disappeared. Both women lived on the Kansas side of the state line, although Butler graduated from high school in, Oklahoma. (Hey, when you live in a place that is only 34 miles wide you don't have to go very far to move into another state.)

According to various reports the pair were either friends, or simply acquaintances who were headed to Eva, Oklahoma to pick up, "children," for a birthday party. One source reported the children were Butler's son and daughter. The Amarillo ABC outlet is saying the two kids were living with Butler's ex-mother in law. News Nation added that Kelley was along to help Butler with, "a custody issue." It is unknown at this time what that issue is, but according to both the Amarillo outlet and News Nation the ex mother in law alerted local authorities when they didn't show up.

Within a short time the car Butler and Kelley were driving in was found abandoned three, or four miles north of Eva. A few hours after the discovery of the car the Texas County Sheriff's Department realized it was in over its head and called in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. 

The OSBI immediately cut off the flow of information regarding the investigation. As one reporter said about them years ago, "They are notoriously tight lipped." Their reputation for crime solving is also, let's say, mixed. The organization was eviscerated by author John Grisham in his non fiction book, "The Innocent Man." It later became a Netflix documentary which featured the famous writer.  

After releasing a statement that the OSBI's analysis of evidence found in the abandoned auto leads them believe the women were victims of foul play, bureau Public Information Manager, Hunter Mckee told the Amarillo ABC outlet, "We have every reason to believe they could be in danger."

You think, Hunter?

Meanwhile the media accounts of Butler and Kelley keep shifting subtly. Jilian Kelley, also a mother who has four children herself, has been described as being married to the pastor of Hugoton's First Christian Church. It is being reported she serves as the church secretary and a youth leader. Another report says her husband, Heath recently resigned and moved to Nebraska to be the minister at another Christian church. An early release said Butler attended another church and was active in it, while later reports say she attended the same church as the Kelleys and made no mention of any involvement except as a member of the congregation.

Other reports have said the ex mother in law called her son--whether before, or after she called the sheriff's department is unclear--and he and Heath Kelley drove to where the car was found together. Of course if Pastor Kelley really was in Nebraska that would be impossible. If the account is true, the only possible explanation is he also received a call from someone and rushed straight down from his new home. 

Both missing victims were described as having visible tats which is highly unusual for evangelical women, unless they led completely different lives before being, "born again." Whether that is the case, or it is okay for the women of the First Christian Church of Hugoton to decorate their bodily temples is not known. In addition, the nearest school to the car, the one Butler graduated from, went into an unexplained lockdown on Tuesday as the investigation proceeded.  

In other words, the whole picture of what happened, who is responsible, and who these women are, or were is garbled to the point of incoherence right now. And, thanks to the presence of the OSBI it will remain that way until they are convinced they've solved the mystery. If they ever do.

And, even then, if we are to believe John Grisham, we might not find out what really happened. 

4-6-24

Enid's Oberfuhrer is Kaput

 After losing a recall election yesterday in Enid, Oklahoma out going City Commissioner, Judd Blevins issued a statement which in part read, "It took a coalition of leftists and moderates, an all out media blitz from local, state, and national outlets and scare tactics about the future of Vance AFB, unfounded in any truth, or reality, yet shamefully endorsed by the establishment to remove a true conservative from office." 

What Herr Blevins didn't say was yesterday's election would have never been held if it hadn't been for his absolute refusal to apologize for his past connections to a white nationalist group and his participation the 2017 Neo Nazi parade on the University of Virginia campus. In addition, he steadfastly refused to renounce the hateful politics of white nationalism and white supremacy. The people who circulated the recall petition, the Enid Social Justice Committee, had told him that if he did those things they would drop the recall and he could go his merry way as a city commissioner.

Blevins' response had been to go on a local radio show and say, among other things, "I have nothing to apologize for." At a candidate's forum last week when asked about his membership in Identity Evropa--he was the group's Oklahoma state coordinator and recruiter--he said, "Well those organizations no longer exist and I think this election is really about the next three years of this city, not of organizations that disbanded five years ago. Now if speaking out against what is being done to this country, what is continuing to be done to this country is a crime, then I would gladly plead guilty to that." Then he threw in a line about the media's continuing bias against white people.

Brother Blevins also failed to mention the online support his recall campaign received from out of state white nationalist groups. One of them went as far as to publish a photo of the daughter of the social justice committee chair while labeling her a, "terrorist."

It's over and done with now though. When the Enid Ward 1 votes were counted last night--it didn't take long, only 1,390 of the 5,000 registered voters went to the polls--Blevins had lost to republican, Cheryl Patterson, 829 votes to 561. For those into percentages rather than raw numbers that means Ms. Patterson won just under 60% of the ballots cast. And yes, for those pessimists among us it meant a little over four out of every 10 voters in Enid, OK supported a known white supremacist who once marched around at night carrying a torch while chanting, "The Jews will not replace us." 

Not to mention Judd Blevins was right about at least one thing. It did take a coalition of democrats and moderate republicans working in conjunction with Enid business leaders to get rid of his fascist ass.

Indeed, Enid's Oberfuhrer might be kaput, but it took an all hands on deck effort to beat him and that should worry us all. Well, that and the 40% who actually liked the Nazi son of a bitch.   

4-3-24